Opening statement delivered by the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Mr. Gert Rosenthal, at the seminar on “The ideas of ECLAC and of Raúl PrebischŽ.

I would like you to know, first of all, that welcoming you to the opening session of this seminar is not just another routine event for me. It is the affirmation of an institutional identity which unquestionably bears the original stamp of Raúl Prebisch. It is a gathering of people who have helped to make ECLAC what it is, people who, although belonging to a number of different generations, have many things in common: firstly, their identity and calling as Latin Americans; secondly, their commitment to integral development; and thirdly, the fact that they approach their work in a way that strives to reconcile theory with praxis or, in other words, to bridge the gap between thought and action. These three traits have given this institution an identity of its own throughout the 42 years of its existence, an identity which sets it apart from other United Nations bodies and institutions and which, indeed, makes it unique among organizations of its type.