Chapter IV
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
84
Table IV.5
Role of the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2020)
in strengthening digital cooperation in the region
Dimension Description Application to digital cooperation
Possible areas of cooperation in the
framework of the region’s digital agenda
Building
domestic
capacities
Strengthening countries’ capacities to design,
implement and evaluate development policy
priorities and plans, encouraging alignment
between domestic and international priorities
and ensuring integrated approaches to more
complex and interlinked challenges.
Encouraging initiatives that build Latin American
and Caribbean countries’ capacities to overcome
several of the developmenttraps.
Building a regional digital market to tap
into Latin America and the Caribbean’s
digital potential.
Fostering cooperation at the multilateral level
on issues such as digital taxation.
Generating support mechanisms for the design
of the digital agenda and digital policies.
Providing technical support for the design of
regional digital market strategies and their
coordination between the different integration
blocs (Pacific Alliance, Southern Common
Market (MERCOSUR), Mesoamerica Project).
Working
inclusively
Engaging countries at all levels of
development on an equal footing in building
and participating in multilateral and
multi-stakeholder partnerships to tackle shared
multidimensional development challenges
with multidimensional responses.
Engaging in partnerships that promote
a human-centred and multidimensional
approach to Latin America and the
Caribbean’sdigitaldevelopment.
Articulating all levels of digital development
and involving multiple stakeholders such as
the private sector and civil society within the
regional digital market.
Strengthening the involvement of
LatinAmerican and Caribbean countries
on an equal footing in multilateral and
multi-stakeholder initiatives on issues such
as digital taxation.
Generating joint work agendas with different
private actors, civil society and the technical
community on priority issues.
Engaging other public sector bodies besides
those directly involved in ICT fields in a joint
work agenda.
Strengthening cooperation with other spaces
(e.g., the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the
Internet Governance Forum).
Operating with
more tools
andactors
Expanding instruments for greater international
cooperation (e.g., knowledge sharing, policy
dialogues, capacity-building, technology
transfers) and including more actors (e.g., public
actors) in a whole-of-government approach.
Promoting technical assistance and technology
transfers through bilateral, multilateral,
interregional, triangular and South-South
cooperation for the development of Latin
America and the Caribbean’s digital capacities.
Establishing policy dialogues and encouraging
knowledge sharing and capacity-building
between Latin American and Caribbean
countries within a regional digital market.
Fostering new multilateral cooperation
initiatives on key global digital issues.
Designing instruments (appropriate technology
programmes, technology transfer, etc.) to
strengthen cooperation between countries.
Maintaining a continuous dialogue on digital
policies and identifying important issues.
Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and others, Latin American Economic Outlook 2020: Digital Transformation for Building Back
Better, Paris, 2020.
At the seventh Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean, the
countries of the region agreed on a regional digital agenda running up to 2022. It includes eight areas of action:
(i) digital infrastructure, (ii) digital transformation and the digital economy, (iii) digital government, (iv)inclusion
and digital skills and other competencies, (v) emerging technologies for sustainable development, (vi) trust
and digital security, (vii) the regional digital market and (viii) digital regional cooperation. In addition, it includes
a specific section on combating the COVID-19 pandemic and on the role of digital technologies for economic
recovery and reactivation, identifying 39 specific goals for implementation (see annex).
D. The regional digital market at the heart of subregional
integration mechanisms
On the basis of the agreements adopted at the Ministerial Conferences on the Information Society in
LatinAmerica and the Caribbean held in 2015 and 2018, and with the support of ECLAC, the countries of
LatinAmerica and the Caribbean initiated a debate on the opportunity presented by the creation of a regional
digital market. They also discussed the measures needed to achieve this goal, which requires the establishment
of a regional strategy to increase trade, expand the digital economy and strengthen competitiveness through
regulatory consistency, infrastructure integration, the development of digital platforms, ease of cross-border
data flows and trade facilitation measures. Among these points, the advisability of working on regulatory
harmonization stands out as an important aspect where much remains to be done in some trade blocs, such
as the PacificAlliance and the countries of the Mesoamerica Project.