ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS HONORS IDB

The IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund has received an award for helping to create the EcoEmpresas Fund, a Costa Rica-based venture capital organization that will finance environmentally responsible private business projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The award was given by The Nature Conservancy, a United States environmental organization. It was presented in February at a ceremony at the Organization of American States.

Projects in the EcoEmpresas pipeline include organic agriculture in Bolivia and Ecuador, agribusiness in Paraguay, ecotourism in Peru, production of natural products in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, sustainable forestry in Mexico, and nontimber forest products in the Dominican Republic.

The $10 million fund was created in 1998 with an agreement between the mif and The Nature Conservancy.

The Nature Conservancy buys and manages environmentally sensitive land with the help of partner organizations. The more than 4.5 million hectares of endangered habitats it has brought under protection constitute the largest private system of nature sanctuaries in the world.

ITALY CONSIDERS MIF SUPPORT FUND

IDB president Enrique V. Iglesias and Giuliano Amato, Italy’s treasury minister, signed a letter of intent on April 15 to establish a trust fund that will expand Italy’s commitment to support the economic and social development of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Under the agreement, Italy will consider establishing a trust fund, to be administered by the IDB, that will provide resources for preparing innovative projects managed by the Multilateral Investment Fund, an autonomous IDB fund that promotes private sector growth.

Information on Italian-IDB joint activities can be obtained by contacting Enrica Murmura at the IDB at (202) 623-2125, or e-mail: enricam@iadb. org.

APPOINTMENTS

Roman Mayorga has been appointed representative of the IDB’s country office in Venezuela. Mayorga, was the principal social development specialist in the Education Advisory Unit of the Bank’s Sustainable Development Department. He succeeds José Agustín Riveros, who is now senior advisor to the IDB’s Regional Operations Department 3.

Eloy García, formerly chief of the Cashier’s Division in the Finance Department, has been named senior deputy manager-treasurer of that department. Fernando Rossel, chief of the Loans and Technical Cooperation Operations Section, will head the Cashier’s Division.

Ira J. Kaylin, who was chief of the Strategic Financial Planning, Policy and Risk Management Division in the Finance Department, has been named deputy manager of the Cashier’s and Accounting Subdepartment.

Neville Olivier Beharie has been named chief, Country Division 6, in the IDB’s Regional Operations Department 3. He was a regional economic advisor in the same department.

PRESS & PUBLICATIONS       PRIVATE SECTOR      PROJECTS      RESEARCH & STATISTICS