From its inception in 1975, the Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), through the mandate of its Member States, has been carrying out various programmes and initiatives in the area of regional and international cooperation. As of 1987, the Member States of SELA established the Meetings of International Cooperation Directors for Latin America and the Caribbean, held annually, which constitute a space for regional and international cooperation stakeholders to exchange ideas and experiences from the Latin American and Caribbean perspective. Through time, these meetings have allowed international cooperation national focal points of SELA Member States to hold discussions on topics or concentrate on cooperation activities in different areas of priority interest for the region.

It should be pointed out that within the framework of the IX Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council of SELA (Caracas, September 1983), Decision No. 156 was adopted, in which the Member States designated the Permanent Secretariat as “Regional Focal Point for Exchanging Information on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries”.

The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), in conjunction with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA), the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund (PGTF), the Group of 77 (G-77) and the Government of Belize, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are organizing for the year 2012 the “XXIII Meeting of International Cooperation Directors for Latin America and the Caribbean”. The central topic of the event will be “Regional Cooperation in the area of food security”.

The Permanent Secretariat has dealt with the topic of agricultural cooperation and food security from its establishment on several occasions, but it was in the year 2008 when the Latin American Council of SELA, at its XXXIV Regular Meeting, adopted Decision No. 495 relating to the “Regional Cooperation Programme on Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean”.

In this connection, on 30 May 2008, the “High-level Regional Meeting on Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean” was convened in order to analyze the depth, magnitude and impact of the worldwide food crisis, as a result of the increase in food prices in the countries of the region. At that time, the Permanent Secretariat submitted the document entitled “The increase in food prices: SELA’s response” (SP/RRAN-SAALC/DT No. 2 – 08), which served as the basis for the discussions held in that regional meeting. On that occasion, the Member States recommended the Permanent Secretariat to prepare and convene a meeting subsequent to the “FAO High-Level Conference on World Food Security and challenges posed by Climate Change and Bioenergy”, organized by FAO in Rome (from 3 to 5 June 2008), in order to analyze its results and make progress towards a regional strategy on this issue.

On 30 October 2008, the “Regional Meeting on the challenges of the adverse international economic situation for Latin America and the Caribbean” was held in Caracas. In order to uphold the aforementioned meeting, the Permanent Secretariat prepared the studies entitled “Increase in Food Prices: Follow-up of FAO High-level Conference on World Food Security, Rome, 3-5 June 2008” (SP/RRLDAEEI-ALC/DT. No. 2- 08) and “The financial crisis of 2008: SELA’s analysis and proposals” (SP/RRLDAEEI-ALC/DT. No. 3 – 08).

Subsequently, on the same line of action, on 17 and 18 September 2009, the Permanent Secretariat, jointly with the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA), held in Caracas, the “Consultation and Coordination Meeting on Food Prices and Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean”. The Permanent Secretariat prepared and distributed the document entitled “Food crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean. Proposal for action at regional level” (SP/RCC-PAYSAALC/DT N° 2-09).

For each of the above-mentioned meetings the Permanent Secretariat prepared final reports describing the discussions which took place and the main conclusions, recommendations and proposals made thanks to the exchange of ideas and experiences among participants.

Afterwards, the Permanent Secretariat, with the purpose of continuing follow-up on this subject of so much significance and impact for the region, drew up a study during the second semester of the year 2010 entitled “Food security and food prices in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current situation and prospects” (SP/CL/XXXVI.O/Di No. 11-10), which was distributed to Member States and submitted for consideration of the Latin American Council of SELA. In 2011, the Permanent Secretariat prepared the document entitled “Agricultural cooperation for food and nutritional security in Latin America and the Caribbean: Critical assessment and proposals for action with a regional scope” (SP/CL/XXXVII.O/Di No. 19-11), also submitted for consideration of the Latin American Council.