The 33rd Session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) closed on Tuesday, calling for "mutual development on an equal footing" in the region.

Representatives of the ECLAC's 44 state members and nine associate members attended the three-day meeting, which opened Sunday in Brazil's capital Brasilia.

The participants mainly reviewed the activities of the ECLAC in the past two years and decided key priorities of the ECLAC's work program for the next two years.

The meeting adopted a statement entitled "Time for Equality, Closing Gaps, Opening Trails", proposed by the Executive Secretariat, which analyzed the current socio-economic situation in the region and medium- and long-term challenges.

The document said the ECLAC's member states should conclude tax agreements between public and private sectors with a view to "readjusting income to overcome enormous diversity of wage systems and enable the member states to fully utilize and redistribute resources".

The participants expressed their satisfaction with the growing consolidation of the ECLAC's Statistical Conference of the Americas, stressing the need to develop national statistics systems which are technically independent, impartial and objective.

The meeting also adopted the ECLAC's work program for 2012-2013 with the focus on improving macroeconomic stability to reduce vulnerability in the region and to mitigate the effects of the world economic and financial crises.

The program urged to strengthen the region's access to financing for development, and to tap productive potentials of the region to improve productivity and create new technologies.

The work program also stressed the need to enhance the region's position in the global economy through foreign trade, cooperation and regional integration

The 34th session of the ECLAC will be held in 2012 in El Salvador.