Meeting as a coalition, business leaders pledged to work together in three areas that will be critical to post-pandemic economic recovery: empowering women, accelerating digitalization, and strengthening regional value chains.

Today, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Mauricio Claver-Carone hosted the inaugural Private-Sector Partners Roundtable on the Future of Latin America and the Caribbean. This coalition of 40 global corporate executives has pledged to contribute to the region's recovery. Leading private-sector executives discussed the historic challenges and the unique opportunities to drive growth and investment in the region. Latin America and the Caribbean has been hit harder by the pandemic than any other region and deserves a robust response.

President Claver-Carone presented the IDB’s vision and priorities. These include economic empowerment for women, digitalization, integration and moving value chains to the region. Business leaders signed a Partnership Declaration and pledged to work with the IDB to mobilize resources in these three critical areas. The meeting is the start of an intensified effort to strengthen collaboration between the IDB and top private-sector companies to promote investment and create the type of jobs that will help the region’s post-pandemic economy thrive. This is the first in a series of collaborations that the IDB plans to host with the private sector.

“When I look at Latin America and the Caribbean, I see a region brimming with opportunities – but it is time to turn rhetoric into action,” said President Claver-Carone. “Today’s gathering with leaders from 40 of the world’s most innovative global and regional companies, and the signing of this historic Partnership Declaration, enshrines our shared vision and an action plan for future investment, growth and prosperity in our countries. I look forward to working with every one of these companies and incorporating them into our workstream to help generate job creation and sustainable economic development.”

Following the coalition event, the IDB Group is now convening action-oriented working groups with corporate partners to solidify partnership opportunities in each of the priority areas identified.

The Roundtable was attended by participants from the following companies: AB InBev, AES, Amazon, AT&T, Banco Santander, Bayer, BNP Paribas, Brookfield, Cabify, Cargill, Central America Bottling Corporation, Cintra, Citibank, Coca-Cola FEMSA, Copa Airlines, DOW, Engie, Google, Grupo Sura, IBM, Itaú Latam, JP Morgan, Mastercard, Mercado Libre, MetLife, Microsoft, Millicom, NEC Corp, NTT Data everis, PepsiCo, Pimco, Salesforce, Sacyr, Scotiabank, SoftBank, Softtek, Telefónica, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, Visa, and Walmart.