CEDET, the Productive Network Project’s main partner and leading economic development agency for Ecuador, reached an institutional milestone in early June, hosting a conference in the capital Quito which was attended by over 300 regional economic development representatives from the public and private sectors of 10 countries throughout Latin America, as well as the U.S.

Created with the help of the Productive Network in early 2008, CEDET is a national organization bringing together the Ecuador's many regional development agencies. It developed and managed the Second Latin American Forum of Regional Economic Development Agencies, which was financed by USAID/Ecuador, the United Nations Development Program, the Municipality of Quito, Ecuador’s Coordinating Ministry for Production, Employment and Competitiveness, and the Inter-American Development Bank. 

At the conference, the regional network of agencies for Latin America was consolidated, and the United Nations Development Program committed to continue financing this network’s institutional development. CEDET was named coordinator of this Latin American network until 2011, when it will meet next in Argentina.

Published June 2010