On January 6, Supreme Decree No. 4857 was issued, which establishes the organizational structure of the Executive Branch of the Plurinational State and the powers of the President(e), Vice-President(e) and the Ministers and Ministers. The elaboration of the aforementioned decree responds to the need to have a legal instrument that compiles what is established in Supreme Decree No. 29894 and the many modifications that it has undergone over time, incorporating some changes in terms of denominations and the adhesion of attributions to ministries, vice ministries and directorates, in addition to modifying the authority in charge of resolving the hierarchical appeal to be presented by the Authority for Supervision and Social Control of Forests and Land, which was previously the Minister of Development Rural and Land and with the modification would be the Minister of Environment and Water.
Some additions to the modifications made in recent years are the elimination of the following Ministries:
- Ministry of Institutional Transparency and Fight against Corruption (incorporated into the Ministry of Justice through Supreme Decree No. 3058 of January 22, 2017)
- Ministry of Autonomy (merged to the Ministry of the Presidency through SD Nº3058)
On the other hand, it can be noted that in this new standard much emphasis is being placed on some areas that require more attention due to the current situation and the changes in reality that have occurred in recent years, aspects that were naturally not present in the Supreme Decree No. 29894 or that were superficial. In this way, the following areas stand out in which new powers have been established for the ministries of each sector:
- Economy
- Fight against smuggling;
- Promotion of private and foreign investment in different sectors;
- Exports of value-added goods and services;
- Circular economy for the development of the industry;
- Right of Bolivia to the Free Transit of goods;
- Opening of markets for Made in Bolivia production;
- sustainable tourism development; and
- State exploitation of technological minerals and rare earths.
- Energy
- Energy transition.
- Evaporitic resources.
- nuclear technology.
- Geothermal energies.
- New energy technologies.
- Renewable and non-renewable, substitute and complementary energies.
- Technology and innovation
- Electronic and/or Digital Government and Information and Communication Technologies for the public sector of the Plurinational State.
- Scientific, technological research and innovation in the field of environment and water, financial services and industry development.
- Implementation of spatial technologies and new technologies in rural economic units.
- Training in accordance with technological and digital educational trends.
- Indigenous, Native and Peasant Peoples
- Identification, prevention, protection and strengthening of nations and PIOCs in a situation of high vulnerability.
- Health
- Prevent and contain the spread of communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
- Disaster situations, health crisis and epidemiological emergency.
- Universal and free access to health services.
- Environment
- Forest development.
- Drinking water and sanitary sewerage for different territorial jurisdictions.
- Comprehensive management of efficient irrigation with a basin approach and climate resilient.
- Sustainable and equitable use of timber and non-timber forest resources.
- Increase in forest cover.
- Rights of Mother Earth, climate change, biodiversity, forests, water and the environment.
- Cultures, Decolonization and Depatriarchalization
- Policies for decolonization and depatriarchalization.
- Recognition of ownership of collective and community cultural property of the Plurinational State.
This is how, with the aforementioned, it is evident that the Bolivian State seeks to respond to the demands of current interest, incorporating specific attributions to the different authorities. Being, for example, necessary to delegate powers arising from COVID – 19, climate change, the current economic situation and the need to adapt to technological and digital trends, among others. Goals that are mostly aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set in 2015, such as goal 5 that promotes guaranteeing the availability of water, its sustainable management and sanitation; objective 7, which refers to affordable and non-polluting energy; objective 12, which deals with responsible production and consumption; and goal 15 that calls for sustainably managing forests.
Finally, for comparative purposes, it is worth mentioning that the previous norm that modified the structure of the Bolivian executive body, Supreme Decree No. 29894 of February 7, 2009, made profound and structural changes such as the extinction of the Sectoral Regulation System (SIRESE) and the creation of ministries that did not exist to date; while in the case of the current norm, Supreme Decree No. 4857, is limited merely to compiling the modifications made at the organizational level throughout these years, without making major changes.