Paris, March 19, 2026. – The Permanent Delegations to UNESCO of the Republic of Panama, in its capacity as coordinator of the GRULAC Working Group on Social and Human Sciences, and of the Republic of Cuba, as coordinator of the GRULAC Working Group on Exact and Natural Sciences, jointly convened the delegations of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) to their monthly working meeting.
The meeting aimed to exchange views among the region's delegations regarding the impact of the UNESCO80 process on the Organization's Science sectors, as well as to preliminarily address the issues related to both sectors included on the agenda of the 224th session of the Executive Board.
During the meeting, delegations expressed, generally speaking, a positive assessment of the proposal to consolidate the Science Sector, highlighting the opportunities it could offer in terms of synergies, interdisciplinarity and capacity building.
At the same time, the importance was underlined of guaranteeing the visibility and specificity of the mandate of the Social and Human Sciences, as well as of preserving operational capacities, human resources and regional presence, particularly in field offices.
The interventions also reflected the need to ensure clarity in the budgetary and programmatic aspects of the process, as well as to promote transparent and participatory implementation, with the active involvement of Member States.
In this context, the exchange made it possible to identify common elements that could contribute to the articulation of a regional position for future consultations with the Secretariat and for debates in the Executive Board, reaffirming GRULAC's commitment to strengthening the role of science within the Organization.