Ms. Monica Parra, Green Growth Officer of the GGGI Colombia team, participated in the Bioeconomy Regional Seminar for Latin America and the Caribbean held on January 24 and 25 in Santiago de Chile. This event was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC – United Nations, CEPAL in Spanish) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Ms. Parra delivered a presentation for Hernando José Gómez, Colombia’s National Planning Department Director of the Green Growth Task Force on policies and regulations, regarding:

• Progress on public policies to develop bioeconomy in Colombia
• How the Green Growth Task Force gets involved in bioeconomy
• Lessons learned and expectations with the formulation of the Green Growth Policy, particularly, in Bioecononmy.
• Institutional coordination problems on bioeconomy policies

During the Seminar, a group discussion was held about actions to be completed with ECLAC/CEPAL to promote bioeconomy in Latin America. The main suggestion was the creation of a Regional Observatory, as a tool to build a strong regional network to consolidate an information system to disseminate the concept, offer online courses, and line up regional actors to advance on public policy design and regulation. As a result of this participation GGGI, the National Planning Department and the government of Colombia are being targeted as potential partners to work on a regional network for bioeconomy.