Bringing together governments, UN agencies, experts and civil society representatives, the 7th Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean will focus both on preparing for the 2024 High-Level Political Forum, and exchanging on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the region.

The meeting is a strong opportunity to raise awareness of the potential of libraries as partners for development across the board, starting conversations with a wider range of potential funders and supporters. With the Summit of the Future coming up later this year, it is also a chance to make the case for more focus on culture, as well as the importance of healthy information and knowledge environments.

In particular, we are grateful to the Hernan Santa Cruz Library at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean for partnering with IFLA to organise an event focused on the importance of knowledge management for achieving the SDGs. This will look across different areas of open – open government, open education and open science – to look at how these, with the support of libraries, can maximise their impact.

You can read more about the side-event here.

IFLA will be represented by Yamila Cortenova of the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.