Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno, have reiterated today in Lima their commitment to strengthen collaboration between the two institutions, as agreed to in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2007. Both institutions have been working together on a number of key areas, namely social cohesion and poverty reduction, regional integration and trade development, renewable energies and energy efficiency, and climate change, as well as others.
Mr. Moreno has stated today that “… the Agenda of the EU-LAC Summit is completely in line with the Agenda of the Bank for the forthcoming years …”. Ms Ferrero-Waldner has highlighted “…the EC and the IDB are long standing allies in fighting poverty, social inequalities and the effects of climate change in Latin America. Therefore, we can't but be committed to cooperate and contribute to the implementation of the Lima agenda.”
In the area of social cohesion and poverty reduction, the IDB is already a member of the European Commission’s EUROsociAL programme steering committee. The aim of this programme is to increase the degree of social cohesion of the Latin American countries by improving key public social policies, namely in the education, health, justice administration, taxation and employment fields. Both the EC and the IDB are also members of the “Social Cohesion Working Group” together with the WB and the IMF.
Furthermore, both institutions provide support to social protection networks, through innovative initiatives. Worthy of mention is the conditional cash transfer a (CCT) programme, which is now in place in more than twenty LAC countries and which benefits the underprivileged.
In the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency, the EC and the IDB are promoting in rural areas, both research and technological development.
Both institutions are also fostering the negotiations of Association Agreements between the EU and Central America as well as the EU and the Andean Community. They support the Aid for Trade initiative. The IDB is also sponsoring a Trade Finance Facility, in which banks from 14 LAC countries and 11 EU countries participate.
Regarding climate change, the EC and the IDB are promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, supporting mechanisms that financially reward emission reductions and contribute to economic development, encouraging the development of a legal framework and regional harmonization, building up climate change adaptation capabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean and facilitating the transfer of technologies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
Both Institutions are closely following the recent food crisis and its impact on the poor in the region as well as subsequent initiatives to remedy the situation. In May 2008, the IDB approved a US$12.5 million grant and authorized the disbursement of a further US$14.5 million coming from a previously approved concessional loan to help the Haitian government carry out an emergency plan to contain food prices, create jobs, and revive agricultural production. In answer to this crisis, the European Commission has increased the EC budget for the global food security programme by € 117.25 million (US$ 176 million), which will give a total food aid budget in 2008 of €283.25 million (US$ 425 million).
The European External Relations Commissioner and the IDB President concluded that Latin America is still a vulnerable region: “The rise in basic food prices is a matter of serious concern. Food security is a global priority and in the coming months we will all have to mobilise efforts and resources to tackle the different aspects of this challenging issue”.