Delegates of the international donor community will hold two Consultative Group meetings in Madrid on March 7-9 to support reconstruction in El Salvador after the recent earthquake and to promote integration and investment in Central America.

The meetings, which will be chaired by the Inter-American Development Bank and sponsored by Spain, will bring together hundreds of delegates from beneficiary countries, donor nations, multilateral institutions, civil society groups, non governmental organizations and the private sector.

The meeting on El Salvador, which will take place on Wednesday, March 7, will give donors an opportunity to analyze the impact of the Jan. 13 earthquake that killed more than 700 people in El Salvador and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

During the meeting, Salvadoran delegates will outline their reconstruction plans and donors will be able to indicate their support for those efforts.

On March 8 and 9 a Regional Consultative Group meeting for Central America will be held at the Casa de América. This event had been scheduled to take place in January but was postponed due to the earthquake.

The regional meeting will focus on Central America’s integration and the challenges and opportunities it poses for boosting economic growth, reducing poverty, improving the sustainable management of its natural resources and the environment, and helping its countries’ participate and compete in the global economy.

The Central America meeting will follow up on the Consultative Group meeting held in Stockholm in May 1999 to address the plight of the countries devastated by Hurricane Mitch.