Caracas, Venezuela. October  03 to 04, 2013 . Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) Permanent Secretariat Av. Francisco de Miranda – Torre Europa - floor 5 Conference Room Simón Bolívar,.

At the Meeting of Regional and Subregional Integration Mechanisms of Latin America and the Caribbean, held at the headquarters of SELA in Caracas on 25 and 26 October 2010, under the Pro Tempore Presidency of the CALC, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA was entrusted with the task of facilitating the Regional Dialogue on the Productive Dimension of Latin American and Caribbean Integration.

For this reason, the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean (CALC) and the Permanent Secretariat of SELA organized the “Meeting of Regional and Subregional Integration Mechanisms on the Productive Dimension ", which was held in Caracas on 5 May 2011 and was attended by representatives of the Member States of SELA and regional integration and cooperation organizations. On that occasion, the following recommendations were adopted:

1. Based on the most recent experiences and changes in development strategies and policies in LAC, productive integration projects should be prioritized within subregional and regional integration processes.

2. Productive integration is key not only to consolidate the integration process itself, but also to achieve progress in terms of social inclusion, reduction in asymmetries within our countries, among our nations and against the world, and improve the international insertion of LAC countries.

3. The proposal for a productive integration agenda in LAC must include the concepts of partnership and productive complementation as central elements in defining strategies and policies on development and productive integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

4. It is of particular relevance to review and explore regional mechanisms to finance projects for productive integration.

5. The Latin American and Caribbean multinational companies, arising from productive complementation, constitute a very promising tool that should be enhanced in the process of productive integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

6. Bearing in mind the importance of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – both in economic and social terms – participants noted the advisability of coordinating the various programmes supporting SMEs that have been undertaken in the different integration processes co-existing in Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular on productive integration. As part of these joint coordination efforts, a proposal with a regional scope could be defined, with specific initiatives to support SMEs in LAC, taking into account the lessons learned from the various existing regional and subregional projects.

7. An eventual Conference of CELAC on the Productive and Industrial Dimension in Latin America and the Caribbean should include the following aspects, among others:

8. Define the nature and scope that productive and industrial promotion policies should have amid the current conditions in our region;

1. Identify the potential contributions of their various components in order to make some headway with specific projects for productive integration in Latin America and the Caribbean; and

1. Define the most promising specific projects for productive integration in the region, based on a critical review of regional and subregional cooperation efforts in the production area.

In addition, in the Caracas Action Plan 2012, the Latin American and Caribbean Presidents reiterated that it was advisable to assess “the possibility of holding a Latin American and Caribbean Conference on productive and industrial development”. The Plan was adopted by the Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean (CALC), held in Caracas on 2 and 3 December 2011, which gave rise to the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), as part of the Chapter on Complementarity and Cooperation among regional and subregional integration mechanisms.

As a result of the V Meeting of National Coordinators of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), held in Havana, Cuba, on 9 and 10 May 2013, the Permanent Secretariat of SELA was authorized to convene, in coordination with ECLAC, a Meeting of Senior Officials of the Member States of CELAC on Productive and Industrial Development, which was scheduled to be held at the headquarters of SELA in Caracas.

This meeting was held on 03 and 04 October 2013 and was intended to assess the productive development and industrialization policies implemented in the region, identify the key elements and strategies that should be taken into account to carry out an agenda for regional consultations on thematic and sectoral issues concerning productive and industrial development of regional interest, in order to reach conclusions and proposals that serve as a basis for the debates on a possible CELAC Conference on the Productive and Industrial Dimension in Latin America and the Caribbean.