News Releases

Mar 20, 2007

Moreno: IDB will be platform for contract of equality of opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean

Bank President spoke at the close of the 48th Annual Meeting of IDB Governors

GUATEMALA CITY – Latin America and the Caribbean need a contract of equality of opportunities to ensure that the benefits of economic growth reach the region’s majorities, Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno said here today.

At the close of the 48^th Annual Meeting of the IDB’s Board of Governors, Moreno proposed that the IDB would be the instrument for spurring initiatives that give priority to the region’s poor and other groups historically sidelined from progress.

“We need a contract of equality of opportunities for all, and we must be the promoters and implementers of this contract,” said Moreno in his speech before representatives of the 47 member countries of the IDB.

In a summary of two days of statements and recommendations by many of the Bank’s governors, Moreno affirmed that the IDB’s will take into account the diversity of circumstances of its Latin American and Caribbean member countries.

“We now know that there is no one way, and every day we become more aware of the complexity of the job of development,” he said. “We will work with the countries of the region in this task.” 

Moreno said that the IDB will continue to promote Opportunities for the Majority, an initiative launched last year to focus the institution’s work on innovative programs that increase access of low-income people to products and services that enable them to improve their incomes and standard of living.

In addition, Moreno noted the need for countries to keep strengthening their economies in order to be prepared for an eventual reversal of the economic cycle that spurred its recovery, which largely resulted from favorable external factors such as high prices for raw materials and abundant liquidity in international financial markets.

Governments, he added, should take advantage of present favorable conditions to “strengthen their economies through more solid fiscal positions and greater efficiencies in spending,” and address challenges such as “poverty, crime and weak governmental institutions.”

Moreno added that the IDB will redouble its efforts in priority areas for its member nations such as infrastructure, education, health, technology and financing for small and medium-size businesses. The Bank will also carry out a broad initiative to sponsor the development of renewable energy sources, the mitigation of risks related to climate change, and natural disaster prevention.

Since taking office Moreno has sought to deepen the IDB’s work with the private sector, expanding access to financing without sovereign guarantees to both companies and public sector agencies. The IDB will also step up its support for microenterprise and SMEs through its Multilateral Investment Fund and the Inter-American Investment Corporation.

Moreno further stated that in addition to creating more flexible financial instruments, such as loans denominated in local currencies, the IDB will change “from a risk-avoiding culture to a culture that manages risks; from a reactive culture to a proactive culture.” 

Referring to the recent decision of the Board of Governors to provide some $4.4 billion in debt relief to Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras y Nicaragua, Moreno said that the IDB will support these countries—its poorest members—so that the benefits of the debt forgiveness can be sustained. 

Moreno also said the IDB must address the needs of the medium-income countries, which need high-quality technical support to find solutions to increasingly complex problems.

Moreno thanked the Board of Governors for its support for the process of realignment initiated by the Bank to “debureaucratize its procedures,” focus on results and ensure that the institution meets the priority needs of its borrowing member countries.

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