By SANTIAGO REAL DE AZUA

In his new five-year mandate which begins April 1, 1998, Iglesias will lead the Bank through what promises to be a period of unprecedented change as the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean carry out a second generation of reforms to consolidate economic gains and improve living conditions for the large numbers of people who remain poor.

Under Iglesias, the Bank has helped spur the transformation of Latin America into a region of democratic societies, with a reinvigorated private sector and a new concept of the role of the state. Steadfast to its longtime mission of pioneering in lending for social programs, the Bank has financed innovative projects to improve water and sanitation, housing, education and microenterprise.

Iglesias has led the Bank to "respond to demands that were always new and enter areas that until now have not been explored." said Board of Governors President Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo, Spain's minister of finance, at the election ceremony.

"A large part of the reason for the Bank's success in carrying out these changes lies in Iglesias's profound understanding of the region's countries and their peoples," he said.

Other IDB governors echoed de Rato, including Lawrence Summers, United States undersecretary of treasury.

Iglesias, said Summers, "has been a leader of rare wisdom, rare determination and even rarer vision in shaping and transforming what the Bank has done over the last 10 years." He added that the Bank is in better financial shape now than at any time in the past 40 years and has in large measure set the agenda for discussion of development issues worldwide.

Under Iglesias, IDB-financed operations to strengthen the region's democratic institutions have included programs for judicial and legislative reform and support for civil society organizations. The Bank is financing programs to reduce poverty, create opportunities for youth and women, protect rights of indigenous communities, and protect the environment.

In 1996, the IDB became the lead financing institution supporting the peace process in Guatemala.

PRIVATE SECTOR FOCUS...

Like the countries of the region, the Bank has put the private sector at the center of its efforts to spur economic growth. The Bank's new Private Sector Department lends directly to private firms for infrastructure projects and catalyzes other sources of investment capital. In addition, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, an IDB affiliate, has built a considerable portfolio of loans and investments for small and medium-size firms. Finally, the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund was created to provide grants and pilot investments in such areas as privatization, job training and retraining, and small enterprise development.

Many of the Bank's recent innovations were the result of its 1994 reorganization. By clarifying lines of responsibility and increasing responsiveness and flexibility, the Bank has been able to enter into new areas, including social investment, economic reform, private sector support and modernization of the state.

Under Iglesias, Bank lending increased from $1.68 billion in 1988 to $6.76 billion in 1996, when the IDB was the region's largest source of multilateral credit for the third consecutive year. The subscribed capital of the Bank was increased in 1994 from $60 billion to $100 billion.

A native of Asturias, Spain, Iglesias is a naturalized Uruguayan citizen. He served as his country's foreign minister prior to his election as IDB president. He also presided over the Uruguayan Round of trade negotiations that led to the creation of the World Trade Organization and headed the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

President Iglesias's biography