The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) has the pleasure to announce the conduction of the “Third Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting on International Trade Single Windows: Paperless Trading and Risk Management in trading operations”, jointly organized with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (MINCETUR) of Peru, to be held in Lima, on 28 and 29 November 2011.

The precedents of this Third Regional Meeting were the first and second Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meetings on International Trade Single Windows, which were held in 2010. This Third Regional Meeting is held in compliance with the mandate issued by the Member States during the XXXVI Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council of SELA (Caracas, 27 to 29 October 2010), as set forth in the Work Programme of the Permanent Secretariat for the year 2011 (SP/CL/XXXVI.O/DT Nº 4-10).

The first regional event entitled “First Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting on International Trade Single Windows”, held in Bogota on 25 and 26 March 2010, was organized at that time by the Permanent Secretariat of SELA, jointly with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia and the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota, under the auspices of the International Financial Corporation, an agency attached to the World Bank Group.

Among the recommendations made by the delegates at this first meeting, SELA, in interinstitutional synergy with other relevant entities, was urged to continue with its analytical and coordination efforts, by holding the II Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting on International Trade Single Windows.

As a follow-up to the above-mentioned recommendation and in compliance with the mandate stemming from the XXXV Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council of SELA and the Work Programme for the year 2010 (SP/CL/XXXV.O/DT N° 4-09/Rev.1), the Permanent Secretariat of SELA and the National Customs Service of Chile organized the “Second Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting on International Trade Single Windows: Advances and pending challenges”, which took place in Valparaíso, Chile, on 1 and 2 December 2010. In addition, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA, the National Customs Service of Chile, with the technical advise of the IADB and under the auspices of CAF, organized the “First Workshop on International Trade Single Windows: considerations an proposals towards a regional action in the context of the Latin Latin America -Pacific Arch Forum”, celebrated on November 30th and December the 1st 2010, in Valparaiso, Chile.

The Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting on International Trade Single Windows in this third edition, will bring together international experts, key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, as well as representatives of international and sub-regional organizations, with the purpose of dealing with the achievements and critical issues concerning paperless trading, including international standards and risk management in various fields related to foreign trade, from a regional perspective.