The Inter-American Development Bank will hold its annual Business Seminar on Financing Public and Private Infrastructure Projects in Latin America and the Caribbean on April 19 and 20 at its Washington, D.C. headquarters.

In line with IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno’s emphasis on promoting the development of renewable energy sources in the region, particularly biofuels, the seminar will highlight the Bank’s activities in this sector. Experts will also discuss the IDB’s Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI), as well as carbon finance and energy conservation.

The two-day event, which will be held in the main auditorium of the IDB Conference Center (1330 New York Ave, NW), will showcase recently approved projects and explain how to win contracts resulting from the IDB’s multibillion-dollar annual lending program.

During the seminar, senior specialists from the IDB and its affiliate, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, will discuss programs and current projects in the energy, transportation, urban development, disaster prevention and water and sanitation sectors, as well as housing and mortgage finance projects involving the IDB’s Private Sector Department.

Presentations will also cover topics such as how to work with the IDB Group, private sector lending, financial instruments, capital market tools, consulting needs and loan syndication to commercial banks, as well as current procurement policies. Specialists will describe the IDB project cycle, showing how projects are developed and how consultants and firms can better compete for contracts.

The briefing, which is open to participants from the general public for a registration fee, is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 19. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

The event will offer networking opportunities with project and policy experts, as well as with fellow participants in the seminar during two lunches and an evening cocktail.

The IDB, the leading source of multilateral financing for Latin America and the Caribbean, generates about 13,000 contracts a year for goods and services from its operations. With an annual lending capacity of $9 billion, the IDB’s pipeline for the next two years includes $1.6 billion for energy projects, $3.3 billion for transportation, $1.1 billion for sanitation; $568 million for environment and natural disaster prevention; and $1.6 billion for urban development.