Digital Inclusion Must Be at the Center of the Region’s Inclusive Social Development Agendas Given Today’s Fast-Paced Technological Transformation, ECLAC Warns

Latin America and the Caribbean must make progress on digital inclusion, putting it at the center of its public policies, since without suitable measures, today's fast-paced technological transformation can deepen preexisting inequalities and generate new forms of social, labor and territorial exclusion, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) asserted this Tuesday, June 16, 2026 in the framework of its Sixth Regional Seminar on Social Development "Inequality and Digital Inclusion: Challenges and Opportunities for Inclusive Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean".

This annual seminar was inaugurated today by José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC's Executive Secretary (video); Claudia Gintersdorfer, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) in Chile; Hak-Jae Kim, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Chile; Fabian Klein, program advisor for ECLAC-BMZ/giz German Cooperation; and Ximena Andión, Regional Director for Mexico and Central America at the Ford Foundation (virtual). Alberto Arenas de Mesa, the Director of ECLAC's Social Development Division, served as moderator.

Digital transformation creates significant opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean, a region caught in three, mutually reinforcing development traps: one involving low capacity for growth and transformation; another of high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion; and a third trap of low institutional capacity and ineffective governance, said José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC's Executive Secretary.

The incorporation of new technologies, the expansion of artificial intelligence and the digital economy's advances can contribute to increasing productivity, fueling innovation, creating new economic sectors and expanding access to essential services such as education, health, social protection and financial services, the senior UN official explained. These transformations, he said, can also create new job opportunities, strengthen people's capabilities, and expand the region's possibilities for economic growth and development.

"However, these opportunities are not automatically or equitably distributed," he emphasized. "Moving towards digital inclusion necessitates recognizing its social dimension and placing it at the center of public policies. This is not just a technological agenda, it is also an agenda for rights and development," the United Nations regional organization's highest authority underscored.

The Regional Seminar on Social Development is organized, in a hybrid format, by ECLAC with support from the EU's regional program "Inclusive Societies in Latin America and the Caribbean," which is financed by the European Commission and implemented through the ECLAC-BMZ/giz Strategic Alliance, the Republic of Korea, and the Ford Foundation.

In its opening session, Claudia Gintersdorfer, the European Union's Ambassador to Chile, concurred that "technology in itself does not lead to inclusion. It can expand opportunities, but it can also reproduce existing forms of exclusion if it is not accompanied by appropriate public policies, solid institutions and a clear focus on equity. That is why the issue that brings us here today is not just technological in nature; it is, above all, a matter of development, rights and social cohesion." In this framework, Gintersdorfer pointed up the project known as Connected Communities: Accelerating the SDGs in Chile's Rural Communities, which is implemented by the United Nations system in Chile with financing from the EU.

Hak-Jae Kim, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Chile, stressed that the Seminar "represents a privileged space for dialogue and collective action at a time when social development challenges require urgent and innovative responses," noting that "digital inclusion is not a minor technical issue; it is one of the pillars of social justice in the 21st century." He added: "Korea wants to continue being a strategic partner to ECLAC and to the region in forging digital inclusion that would put people and their rights at the center."

In addition to highlighting the multiple collaborative initiatives between German Cooperation and ECLAC, Fabian Klein, an ECLAC-BMZ/giz program advisor, stated that "we know there is no single solution, and certainly no definitive one, but we firmly believe that exchanging experiences can generate valuable lessons and proposals that would strengthen public policy design and the creation of a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable institutional framework."

Ximena Andión, the Ford Foundation's Regional Director for Mexico and Central America, also stressed the relevance of the seminar's theme, since digital transformation can bring benefits in many areas, but it can also widen gender, territorial, racial and ethnic gaps. For instance, a lack of digital inclusion can be associated with the region's low economic growth in the last 30 years and its high levels of inequality, she said.

The seminar's programme features three keynote speeches, a high-level panel, six thematic panels, the launch of various publications and four side events, among other activities. Over the course of three days, seminar participants will share experiences, good practices and proposals aimed at bridging digital divides and moving towards more inclusive societies in the region.

Some of the issues to be discussed include the multidimensional measurement of inequality; the digital divide and inclusive social development; digital social protection and health; the use of digital technologies by children and adolescents; labor policies in the face of automation; and the school-to-work transition in the digital era.

This seminar also seeks to give continuity to the debates put forth at the Sixth Session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to the commitments that emerged from the Second World Summit for Social Development, held in Qatar in 2025. The aim is to produce strategic inputs that would help identify transformative recommendations and proposals for moving towards inclusive social development, reducing inequalities and bridging digital gaps.