The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE),  in cooperation with Ceará State Government and support from the United Nations Development Program (PNUD) will carry out, from June 11 to 13, the Triple International Forum on Global South Governance, in Fortaleza. For three days, the state will be a hub for discussions about indicators on health, budget, education, culture, favelas and poor urban communities, economy, finances, environment, labor, color or race, tourism, communication, memory, among other topics. More than 100 speakers from Brazil and abroad will discuss current and new indicators from the perspective of the Global South in the Digital Age.

To advertise the event, promoters organized a press conference on Tuesday (27), at the headquarters of the Ceará Research Institute on Economic Strategy (Ipece), streamed online on the social media channels of IBGE and of Ipece. Onsite participants in the panel were the president of the IBGE, Marcio Pochmann, and representatives of the State Government of Ceará. Remote participants were Cláudio Providas, head of PNUD in Brazil, and Betina Barbosa, chief economist at the PNUD Human Development Unit in Brazil.

More than 30 countries have confirmed attendance to the Triple Forum, which will take place on June 11-13, hel in partnership by the IBGE and Ceará State GFovernment, with support from the United Nations Development Fund (PNUD) and other partners. Free registration will remain open until June 8, at the IBGE virtual shop (https://loja.ibge.gov.br).

Highlights of the Triple International Forum

During the press conference, the president of the IBGE, Marcio Pochmann, highlighted the relevance of the Triple Forum discussions not only for Brazil, but worldwide: “We have been watching a movement of economic dynamism and geopolitics from the West to the East, as 70% of the economic growth nowadays comes from the countries located in the southern hemisphere. Therefore, we invite researchers, scholars, public and private managers, university students, high school students to take part in this discussion.” The president recalls that the choice of Fortaleza for this Triple Forum is a reference to the first meeting of chief of states of BRICS, in the capital of Ceará, in 2014.

Speaking on behalf of the State Government, the Secretary of Planning and Management, Alexandre Cialdini, thanked the IBGE for the invitation and explained that the forum will be an opportunity for Ceará to take strategical position in the new geopolitical and economic context: "The event will show new possibilities arising for the state in the new global market, which starts to grow through the Pacific Ocean. There is a perspective of production aimed at the consumer market of Arabic countries, by means of halal food, besides important markets in Brics countries, for example, India, China and Russia. Ceará, with its privileged location, has established a structure in logistics to enable and qualify this process.

The head of PNUD in Brazil, Cláudio Providas, emphasized the contribution brought by technicians, experts, politicians and  those who create public policies in an enriching debate as the Triple International Forum: “Meetings like this are a fundamental space  not only for conversations about data, statistics, indicators, bu also on our role en encouragers of discussions that can lead to more profound policies of greater impact.”

Alfredo Pessoa, President of Ipece, explained this is the first time the Institute is visited by a president of the IBGE: “I would like to thank the IBGE for its deference to us, as a major institution regarding our data sovereignty. It is the provider of data for our several research institutes. I hope we will have an excellent forum in June, with discussions that will be a legacy for our state of Ceará!”

The press conference was hosted by Daniel Castro, Coordinator General of the IBGE Center for Information Documentation and Dissemination (CDDI) and of the IBGE Social Communication Division (CCS). He highlighted the 30 countries that have  confirmed attendance at the Triple Forum, besides the schedule and structure of the event, which will have 36 thematic panel sessions, 150 speakers, moderators and rapporteurs, a main plenary session for one thousand attendees, diplomatic rooms, simultaneous interpreting and LIBRAS (Brazilian sign language interpreters). “Registration is easy, available on the IBGE portal for free. Don't wait until the last minute. Anyone can participate.”

Following this moment, a video recorded by the National Secretary of Youth of the federal government, Ronald Sorriso. In the recording, he invited society to take part in the Triple Forum: “We would like to invite you, youngster, scientist, researcher, statistics professional, person interested in data production to participate in this event,” the secretary explained, as he confirmed participation in the thematic panel session "Current and new indicators on youth from the perspective of the Global South," on of the 36 confirmed ones. 

Another participant in the press conference was Betina Ferraz Barbosa, chief economist of the PNUD Brazil Human Development Unit. She presented innovations in the schedule and spoke about confirmed figures, with a highlight to the pre-launch of the Human Development Regional Report 2025, which will be presented by the Regional Director of PNUD for Latin America and the Caribbean and Assistant Secretary-General, Michelle Muschett, in partnership with the Chief Economist of PNUD, Almudena Fernandez.

“Information, both at global and at national level, has caused impact in these 12 years [between the 2010 Census and the 2022 Census] as if we had experienced longer periods of difficulty. From this perspective, current data will reveal a very different country, with new challenges already presented by the IBGE, mainly in Brazilian demography and inequality,” said Betina Barbosa, about the content of the report. 

The conclusion of the event had participations of the IBGE Superintendent in Ceará, Francisco Lopes, Manager of Statistics, Geography and Information (Gefin) of Ipece, representing researchers that work for both institutes.