Inauguration of the ISSA Liaison Office for the South Cone of the Americas in Buenos Aires (Photo: ANSES)

The ISSA Liaison Office for the Southern Cone of the Americas was inaugurated at a ceremony in Buenos Aires attended by Carlos Tomada, the Argentine Minister of Labour, Work and Social Security, Diego Bossio, the Executive Director of the National Social Security Administration (ANSES), which is hosting the office, Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, the ISSA Secretary General, and representatives of the Argentine authorities, international organizations and Latin American social security institutions.

Welcoming the initiative of ANSES to host the Liaison Office, Mr. Konkolewsky emphasized the importance of strengthened cooperation to seek sustainable solutions to the common challenges facing social protection systems in the region.

“New challenges facing social security in this region, which has played a pioneering role in the development of social protection, require creative and proactive responses by social security institutions,” Mr. Konkolewsky commented.

“Through enhanced collaboration facilitated by this new Liaison Office, and the sharing of solutions to common concerns - including increased migration, informal labour, and the need for good governance - social security institutions can continue to play a crucial role in fostering a culture of sustainable, accessible and transparent social security,” he said.

The Liaison Office will work with the 13 ISSA member institutions and social security organizations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to facilitate collaboration and promote the exchange of expertise and experience.

Social inclusion in a time of crisis

The opening of the Liaison Office was followed by a Technical Seminar on the extension of social security coverage which, among other subjects, analysed and compared strategies for promoting social inclusion in the context of the economic crisis, and the impact of migration on social security.

The seminar involved senior managers from ISSA member social security institutions in Argentina and the sub-region as well as representatives of the International Labour Organization, the Inter-American Conference on Social Security, and the Ibero-American Social Security Organization.

The Argentine social security organizations have an established history of collaboration with the ISSA, and were the hosts of the Regional Office for the Americas that was opened in 1971. The new Liaison Office was created as part of ISSA’s strategy to increase cooperation among social security institutions at a sub-regional level. A similar ISSA office was established in Peru in October 2009, and plans are underway to open an office for the countries of North and Central America.

The countries of the Southern Cone region have been actively involved in a series of ISSA initiatives and events in the recent period, and Brazil will host the Regional Social Security Forum for the Americas, 24-27 May 2010.

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