News Highlights
IDB president pledges moves to increase Bank’s responsiveness
Institution must do more to help countries improve infrastructure and competitiveness
Two heads of state were among participants at the inaugural session of the IDB Annual Meeting, where calls were made to boost the regions infrastructure, competitiveness and commitment to expand the benefits of development to all segments of society.
In his speech at the Palacio das Artes, in the heart of Belo Horizonte, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno pledged that he will take steps to increase the Bank’s ability to help its member countries compete in the global economy.
“In the first place I want to promote a Bank that is closer to its clients, the people of Latin America, and I will foster its decentralization,” said Moreno. “Secondly, we will make the Bank more agile, reducing the time lapse between the approval and the disbursement of loans.”
Other priorities will be to boost IDB lending to the private sector and support regional infrastructure projects to help the region effectively integrate its economies.
Honduran President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales said that the past three years of 5 percent growth are not enough to resolve long-standing problems of poverty. He noted the gap between “growth and poverty and democracy and poverty,” saying that the “progress being achieved must be compared with goals that have not been achieved.”
“We have never had so much political democracy,” he said, “but the people are demanding more social and economic democracy.” He concluded that “poverty is a threat to democracy.”
Bolivian President Evo Morales said that his country’s indigenous majority must benefit from the nation’s natural resources or the result will be social conflicts. Referring to “500 years of plundering of our resources,” he said that the indigenous people now seek “not revenge, but justice.”
At the same time, he called for a strong private sector role as part of the solution for improving conditions for the 67 percent of people in his country classified as poor. “In this process of change we need not just the support of our neighboring countries and international organizations, but also the private sector,” he said.
Brazil’s Minister of Planning Paulo Bernardo, who was elected chairman of the IDB Board of Governors, also emphasized the need for equity and social inclusion.
“We need solid macroeconomic policies,” he said, “but this is not enough.” It is equally important, he continued, to expand income distribution and to provide assistance to the private sector. “It is crucial of achieve social harmony in the region,” he said.
Naokazu Takemoto, Japan’s senior vice minister of finance and outgoing chairman of the IDB Board, highlighted the problem of income disparity in Latin America, which he said was greater than in Asia. He also noted the serious problems caused by lack of infrastructure, saying that it costs three times more to ship goods in Latin America than in industrialized countries.
Calling attention to the recurrent problem of natural disasters, he pledged $5 million over a three-year period to the Bank to finance programs for prevention and technical assistance.
Also speaking at the inaugural session, Aécio Neves da Cunha, governor of the state of Minas Gerais, said that the region must not merely grow, but grow in such a way as to provide opportunities to all segments of society, drawing on new technologies and lessons from the past.
“To spend more than we have, or spend badly what have, is incompetent and irresponsible,” he declared, adding that the goal for the future is to create societies that are “more just, more equal, more cohesive.”
In his welcoming address, Fernando Pimentel, mayor of Belo Horizonte, highlighted the “enormous inequities” that exist in the countries of the region, which he called “our biggest shame.” He said that policies must always be “inspired by social justice.”
The afternoon was devoted to the meeting’s second plenary session in which Bank governors presented statements on behalf of their governments. Speeches are available on the Bank’s Annual Meeting website.
IDB welcomes Japan's contribution to the Disaster Prevention Fund
Japan’s announcement that it will contribute US$ 5 million to IDB’s Disaster Prevention Fund was praised by Máximo Jeria, manager for IDB's Region Two, at a seminar on disaster risk management. The announcement was made today by Naokazu Takemoto, Japan's senior vice-minister of finance and outgoing chairman of the IDB Board of Governors, during the inaugural session.
The seminar was held to examine the importance of disaster risk management for Latin America and the Caribbean and how the Bank can provide more effective and innovative disaster risk management support to its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recognition for former IDB president Iglesias
Enrique V. Iglesias, former IDB president, received considerable recognition during the course of the formal sessions of the Annual Meeting. Last night, at a dinner to honor the Bank’s governors, which included many special guests, IDB President Moreno presented the book “Al servicio de algo más que un banco (At the service of something more than a bank),” published by the Bank, that presents the achievements of the institution under Iglesias’ leadership (1988-2005). In his inaugural speech, Moreno hailed the great contribution Iglesias has made to the theory and practice of development in Latin America. Finally, the governor of the state of Minas Gerais, Aécio Neves, presented Iglesias with his state’s highest honor in recognition of the Bank’s support for the state.
Brazil President Lula highlights IDB importance for Latin America
In an article published in O Estado do Sao Paulo and many other newspapers, Brazil President Luis Inácio Lula Da Silva highlighted the importance of the Bank’s meeting in Belo Horizonte in the context of integration moves in the region (read article).
Other events
Brazil Plannning Minister Paulo Bernardo and IDB President Moreno signed a protocol to establish the conditions needed to establish a line of credit for municipalities. The documents were signed in the Expominas conference center.
Presentations were made by the IDB Governor for Argentina Felisa Miceli and the Minister of Economy of Brazil Guido Mantega on the economic situations in those countries.
The IDB announced the inclusion of Banco de Crédito Centroamericano (BANCENTRO) as the first Nicaraguan Issuing Bank under its Trade Finance Facilitation Program (TFFP). Under the TFFP, the IDB extends guarantees to cover letters of credit, documentary collections, promissory notes and other instruments used in the financing of international trade transactions. BANCENTRO’s participation in the TFFP will be instrumental to the Nicaraguan economy, as it will support potential business opportunities resulting from the materialization of CAFTA-DR and other free trade agreements.
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