IDB Head met Brazil’s President Rousseff in Brasilia to discuss work program
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will support Brazil's efforts to fight extreme poverty by providing technical assistance to measure the development impact of social programs, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno said after meeting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia on June 28.
During the meeting, the Bank also discussed plans to increase its investments in the municipalities in the country’s northeast that are participating in the government’s “Brazil without Poverty Plan.” The Plan, announced earlier this month, seeks to lift more than 16 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty.
During the meeting, the Brazilian government also noted the importance of the IDB’s work with cities hosting World Cup games, particularly in the area of development sustainability. The Bank will invest about $6 billion by 2014 to improve infrastructure, such as urban transportation and water and sanitation, in cities participating in the World Cup.
Among the World Cup-related initiatives that will be supported by the IDB is the organization of events that will allow its member countries to share with Brazil their experience in using such events to promote long-lasting development.
"We have an excellent cooperation between the Sports Ministry and our initiatives in the 12 host cities,” said Moreno. “In September we will take to Manaus representatives of countries that have already hosted world events to develop proposals that will generate an important social and environmental legacy," he added. Brazilian Sports Minister Orlando Silva attended the meeting between Moreno and President Rousseff.
Citizen security will also be a topic in the World Cup-related seminars, with an event planned for Rio de Janeiro in August. The goal of this seminar will be to identify and improve successful practices in preventing violence, providing greater access to justice and strengthening government’s capabilities in the area of public safety. The Bank is currently preparing citizen security programs in three Brazilian states: Parana, Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro.
During the meeting, the IDB agreed to provide technical assistance, including capacity building and consulting services, to Brazil’s Chamber of Management, Performance and Competitiveness Policies, chaired by Jorge Gerdau. The Chamber, created in May, will advise the Brazilian governments on policies to boost the country’s productivity and competitiveness.
Moreno and Rousseff also discussed how the IDB and BNDES can boost cooperation to promote greater regional integration in projects in which the Bank plays an important role, such as the Initiative for Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Issues such as digital inclusion and competitiveness were also discussed during the meeting. The Bank may work with the Ministry of Communications in projects related to fiber optics, broadband, and infrastructure for telecommunications.