Mario Cimoli, deputy executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), has been promoted to serve as the institution’s acting executive secretary.

The appointment was made by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres. Cimoli, an Argentine economist replaces Mexican diplomat, Alicia Bárcena, who concluded her mandate last week after nearly 14 years at the helm of the UN regional commission.

In a statement, ECLAC reports that Cimoli has “a long trajectory” as visiting professor and researcher at various institutions, including the University of Udine, the Metropolitan Autonomous University of Mexico (UAM), the University of Pisa, the University of Pavía and the National University of General Sarmiento.

Cimoli, who earned his PhD from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and is a full professor of political economy at the Ca’Foscari University of Venice in Italy has more than 20 years of work experience in the United Nations and ECLAC.

Cimoli postings within ECLAC

Within the regional commission, he has served as economic affairs officer of the Division of Production, Productivity and Management (1999-2009); head of that same division’s Innovation and Information Communications Technology (ICT) Unit (2009-2010); director of the Division of Production, Productivity and Management (2010-2018); and officer-in-charge of the Division of International Trade and Integration (2015-2020).

“His extensive publication record reflects a substantial contribution to the fields of micro- and macroeconomic policies, with a focus on development paths, economic growth and the interconnections between industrial policy, technological development and innovation,” ECLAC said in a statement.

The statement noted that Cimoli’s most recent publications include Industrial Policies, Patterns of Learning and Development: An Evolutionary Perspective (2020); Choosing sides in the trilemma: international financial cycles and structural change in developing economies (2020); and A technology gap interpretation of growth paths in Asia and Latin America (2019).

He was also co-director of the Industrial Policy Task Force of Intellectual Property Rights Regimes for Development Task Force, along with Giovanni Dosi and Joseph E. Stiglitz, of Columbia University (2004-present). ECLAC said Bárcena’s nearly 14 years of stewardship were characterised by “the hallmark of equality and its key impact on countries’ development processes and human progress.”

Bárcena’s farewell

Speaking during a ceremony held in her honour, which took place as a hybrid event from the regional commission’s central headquarters in Santiago, Chile, Bárcena commented, “Today, I conclude this fruitful cycle as the highest authority of ECLAC. This has been the brightest phase of my professional career.”

Bárcena was appointed ECLAC chief on July 1, 2008, by then United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, becoming the first woman to hold the post.

Among the many initiatives that make up Bárcena’s legacy, ECLAC highlighted the Comprehensive Development Plan for El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and south-southeast Mexico, as a bid to address the structural causes of migration.

ECLAC also cited the Plan for Self-Sufficiency in Health Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, “which seeks to strengthen the capacities for research, development, production, and access to vaccines and medicines throughout the region, with emphasis on actions to promote regional integration”.

Another stand out was the Caribbean First initiative, “a strategy that aims to reappraise and strengthen the Caribbean’s place as a fundamental part of our region and to expand opportunities for integration and cooperation.”