The Meetings of International Cooperation Directors for Latin America and the Caribbean have been organized by SELA since 1987, with the purpose of exchanging ideas, experiences and best practices as regards high priority issues on the agenda for cooperation and development assistance, from a regional perspective.

In this connection, the Latin American Council of SELA, the supreme organ of the regional organization, has adopted two decisions to strengthen this space for encounter. Decision 156, adopted in 1983, designated SELA as the "regional focal point for the exchange of information on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries", and Decision 538, of 2012, on the "Meetings of International Cooperation Directors for Latin America and the Caribbean ", further supported this meeting.

In 2015, the central topic for the XXVI Meeting of International Cooperation Directors will be “Port cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Digital ports: Status and prospects”. This event will be held in Dominican Republic, with the co-sponsorship of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development.

It should be noted that a Latin American and Caribbean cooperation programme to support the port sector and strengthen its institutional aspects – such as the logistic port communities and the new and guaranteed standards of service and technological innovation, whose achievements are evidenced in the implementation of Port Single Windows and their interoperability with the Foreign Trade Single Windows – would be a suitable complement to the regional efforts to make progress in foreign trade and transport facilitation through port logistics efficiency. In this connection, there would be three pillars to speed up the inclusion of Latin America and the Caribbean into global business with economic, social and environmental sustainability, namely: (i) Governments must be committed to efficiency, governance and competitiveness in terms of foreign trade; (ii) Counting on a network of export entrepreneurship; and (iii) Consolidating communities of service providers and users of logistics services with high added value.

Also noteworthy is the importance of cooperation in aspects that encourage governments to commit themselves to developing projects on port technological innovation (Port Single Windows), within the context of their interoperability with the Foreign Trade Single Windows.

The Project “Port cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Digital ports: Status and prospects” is expected to provide the international cooperation directors, in their annual meeting, with an overview of the status of development and the areas where cooperation could further support national institutions and centres of excellence in their efforts to strengthen Foreign Trade Single Windows, in particular Port Single Windows, and the progress of digital ports.

In addition, it will provide an excellent opportunity to inform the international cooperation directors for Latin America and the Caribbean about the progress and results of the “Programme to create the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Digital and Collaborative Ports: Strengthening logistic port communities, service standards and technological innovation for a globalized, logistically competitive and sustainable trade”, which is being carried out by SELA since 2014, together with CAF-development bank of Latin America.

It is important to point out that the issue of “Cooperation in the area of digital ports in Latin America and the Caribbean” is of high priority for the region, and that is the reason why the government of Dominican Republic, through its Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development, has decided to co-sponsor the XXVI Meeting of International Cooperation Directors for Latin America and the Caribbean, scheduled to take place in Santo Domingo during the first half of 2015.

As previously noted, this Project benefits the 28 Member States of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela), the five remaining countries of the region, as well as the regional and subregional integration and cooperation organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean in charge of the general topics related to physical infrastructure and Foreign Trade Single Windows, and more specifically those of the port sector, with an emphasis on Port Single Windows and Digital Ports. The project will allow for evaluating the progress as regards this issue within regional and subregional integration institutions which develop projects and initiatives in this direction such as the Andean Community (CAN), the Central American Integration System (SICA), the Central American Commission on Maritime Transport (COCATRAM), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our Americas-Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP), and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), among other regional agencies.