News Higlights
Record participants expected at IDB Annual Meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
More than 12,000 are expected to attend seminars and formal events
A record attendance of 12,000 participants is expected for the 47th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank, which is being held at the Expominas conference center in Belo Horizonte, capital of Brazil’s state of Minas Gerais.
Expected participants include Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Honduran President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales. In addition to official delegations, attendees will include bankers and businessmen, representatives of international and nongovernmental organizations, and an estimated 600 journalists. The meeting is being held under the theme “Open doors to development.”
The 21st Annual Meeting of IDB Group member Inter-American Investment Corporation will be held concurrently with the IDB event.
Although the meeting officially begins on Monday, events got underway today with a seminar on technological innovation and competitiveness. Speakers at the seminar include IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno, Luis Fernando Furlan, Brazil’s minister of development, industry and foreign trade, Sergio Rezende Brazil’s minister of science and technology, and Robderto Rodrigues, Brazil’s minister of agriculture.
Additional seminars will be held on youth development, remittances and microfinance, the role of development banks in Latin America, regional development in the Amazon basin, a comparison of small business development in Brazil and Italy, financing for clean energy, cash transfer programs to combat poverty, debt instruments and policies, foreign investment and free trade agreements, the business environment for private enterprise, financing for disaster risk management, and governance in public administration.
The stunning Expominas center was completed just in time for the IDB meeting. With a total area of 72,000 square meters, it is the third largest conference center in Latin America. The most modern such facility in the region, it offers 3,500 voice and data points, climate control in all areas, and access to the city’s metro system.
In a move to combat the greenhouse gases, the IDB event has been designed as the first carbon neutral meeting held by a multilateral financial institution. The Bank will purchase 11,000 verified emission reductions through a Brazilian nongovernmental organization, which are expected to offset the carbon emissions represented by the travel and accommodations of the meeting participants. The funds raised will finance a project to substitute the use of fossil fuels with biodiesel in a rural community in Brazil’s state of Tocantins.
The Board of Governors is the IDB’s top policymaking body. Its members include finance and economy ministers, central bank presidents and other senior government officials. The governors represent the IDB’s 47 member countries, which include 28 in the Western Hemisphere, 16 in Europe, as well as Israel, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
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