NR-237/00

PRESS INQUIRIES TO:  Daniel Drosdoff  (202) 623-2407   Email: Danieldr@iadb.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 20, 2000

The aviation systems of Central America and four other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean will take steps to become safer and more commercially competitive following the completion of a program assisted by a $4 million grant by the Multilateral Investment Fund, the MIF announced today.

Among other benefits, the resources will help countries comply with international aviation safety standards as required by the International Civil Aviation Organization, opening the way to expansion of national airlines’ commercial opportunities and stimulating the increasingly important tourism industry.

Participating in the program, which is unique and will be a model for other regions of the world, will be the five countries of Central America, Belize, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Panama.

The project will help strengthen the regional institutional framework for aviation safety, assist the development of harmonized regulatory frameworks for the region, develop a regional information system to improve access to safety information, and modernize the civil aviation regulatory bodies of the eligible countries.

"Among the results, we expect that this program will support future improvements in the region’s access to world markets and its attractiveness to private investment in aviation and other key economic sectors, such as tourism," said Project Team Leader Joan Bauerlein.

The Central American Corporation for Air Navigation Services (COCESNA)* will carry out the program, which is being conducted under the overall framework of the Western Hemisphere Transportation Initiative, a part of the Summit of the Americas Process. COCESNA and the participating governments are contributing $2.0 million to the program.

The Multilateral Investment Fund is an autonomous fund of the Inter-American Development Bank that provides grants and investments to accelerate private sector development and improve the climate for investment in Latin America and the Caribbean.

*See Website COCESNA: http://www.cocesna.hn/

For more information on the project contact Joan Bauerlein of the IDB at (202) 623-3132. For more information on the Multilateral Investment Fund contact Kathryn Hewlett-Jobes, the head of MIF communications, at (202) 924-8106, E-Mail kathrynhj@iadb.org