Dominican Republic to Host ECLAC's 41st Session: Innovation and IP on the Regional Agenda

By Guzmán Ariza, Attorneys at Law

The Forty-first Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) — the organization's most important biennial meeting — will take place on October 7–9, 2026 in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.

The decision follows an agreement signed at ECLAC's central offices in Santiago, Chile by Dominican Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Álvarez and ECLAC's Secretary of the Commission, Luis Fidel Yáñez, acting on behalf of Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs. 

A Gathering of Regional Weight

The session will bring together authorities from ECLAC's 46 member states and 14 associate members, along with representatives of the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations. It is the principal forum through which the Commission shapes its analytical priorities and engages governments on the region's most pressing development challenges.

Countries will have the opportunity to debate economic, social and environmental development, review the Commission's activities from the prior two-year period, and set the priorities for its programme of work for the next two years. That work programme has increasingly reflected the centrality of innovation, digital transformation, and knowledge-based development to the region's long-term growth prospects — themes of direct relevance to the intellectual property community.

ECLAC's Executive Secretary described the upcoming session as an opportunity for strategic reflection at a time characterized by deep ruptures and reconfigurations in the international context, and as a chance to provide member states with tools for navigating the current situation and achieving development goals. 

That framing is significant. Among the structural shifts reshaping the global economy, the governance of intellectual property — covering technology transfer, AI-generated content, access to medicines, and the protection of traditional knowledge — ranks among the most consequential for developing nations. ECLAC sessions have historically served as venues where these tensions are surfaced and where the region's collective negotiating positions begin to take shape.

The meeting will also mark the start of the Dominican Republic's term as Chair of ECLAC, a role it will hold until the Commission's next session in 2028, succeeding Peru, which hosted the 40th Session in Lima in 2024. 

Foreign Minister Álvarez emphasized that hosting the session reflects the Dominican Republic's commitment to multilateralism, regional dialogue, and cooperation for Latin America and the Caribbean's sustainable development.