Towards
an IDB in the Twenty-first Century
"For
the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to effectively
address the roots of poverty and socio-economic inequality,
the economic growth rate of the Region must double from the
current rate of 3.5 percent to 7 percent".
Enrique
V. Iglesias President, Inter-American Development Bank
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development February
2000
"The
world of services is going to grow vigorously in the coming
years. We can not lose the opportunity of the knowledge society.
If we are not capable of making the needed educational effort
to develop human resources, we are going to lose the opportunity
of the knowledge revolution just as we lost the opportunity
of industrialization. We have to become involved in these opportunities
in a massive manner".
Enrique
V. Iglesias, President Inter-American Development Bank
Seminar "Centroamerica 2000", 15 November 2000
One
of the most significant challenges confronting a multilateral
development finance institution such as the Inter-American Development
Bank is to ensure that countries in the Regions participate
in and benefit from the knowledge-base global economy.
The
Inter-American Development Bank is not a "late-comer" to the
emergence of the knowledge economy. For years, the Bank has
accompanied the countries in the use of information technology
for development. This process has had several distinct phases.
They are:
As the Region
enters the new decade, century and millenium, there is an explosion
of activity involving information technology. The magnitude of
the challenges in the Region - increasing poverty and inequality,
endemic debt and vulnerability to financial crises elsewhere,
environmental degradation, increasing concern about the potential
for markets and democratic reform to expand opportunities for
more and more people - provides focus and urgency for our work
in this area. In order to respond effectively and in a timely
manner, human energies must be mobilized and synergies generated
to harness information technology to address these challenges
effectively and in a timely manner.
The Bank uses
its convoking powers to generate synergy among the twenty-first
century leaders of the knowledge-economy in Latin America and
the Caribbean. IDB is currently promoting dialogue and exploring
our project funding in three major areas: new economy, human capital
and digital democracy.
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