Spain will host the IDB's non-regional members meeting in February 2022.

MADRID - IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone and members of his executive team concluded a successful visit to Madrid to encourage greater investment in Latin America and the Caribbean to boost the region’s post-pandemic recovery. The mission’s main objective was to strengthen international trade and attract financing and businesses that will accelerate the region's digital transformation and contribute to its sustainable and inclusive growth.

At the Multilateral Technical Conference, a central activity of the visit, the IDB Group presented its Vision 2025 - Reinvest in the Americas, a blueprint for spurring recovery and a decade of new opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Conference, organized by ICEX, the country’s primary organization for the internationalization and foreign direct investment of Spanish firms, was attended by leading companies interested in expanding trade relations with the region. The First Vice President and Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain, Nadia Calviño, and the CEO of ICEX, María Peña, participated in the event. 

“Spanish companies are strategic partners for the IDB for medium- and long-term financing and foreign trade and supply chains, as well as in advisory services and resource mobilization. I am convinced that both the Spanish public sector and its businesses, working with the IDB, will play a key role in the recovery phase and modernization of Latin American and Caribbean economies,” said IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone.

During the Multilateral Technical Conference, Vice President Calviño announced that Spain will host the meeting of governors of non-regional IDB member countries. The meeting will take place on February 20-21, 2022, and will gather representatives from approximately 20 European and Asian countries in preparation for the Annual Meeting of the IDB Boards of Governors, to be held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in March. 

President Claver-Carone’s visit included meetings with His Majesty King Felipe VI and the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón. During the meetings, he stressed the importance of strengthening Spain’s historical alliance with Latin America and the Caribbean to reinforce the country’s role as a key IDB partner in transforming the region after COVID-19.

President Claver-Carone also signed an agreement with the Justice Ministry to work together in advancing the digital transformation of the administration of justice in the region. 

In a meeting with the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the IDB president highlighted the city’s potential as a gateway to Europe and a bridge to position the region as a destination for Spanish entrepreneurs and investors.

President Claver-Carone also met with BBVA President Carlos Torres and Banco Santander Vice-President and CEO José Antonio Álvarez during his visit to the Spanish capital. In addition, during his meeting with Telefónica President José María Alvarez-Pallete, he announced an initiative to connect entrepreneurs and corporations through open innovation processes. 

The companies that participated in meetings with the IDB in Madrid are members of the Bank’s Private-Sector Partners Coalition on the Future of Latin America and the Caribbean, a group of business leaders inaugurated in February 2021. Other Spanish members include Cabify, Cintra, Fundación Real Madrid, Idrica, NTT Data everis, Sacyr and Seat.

The members of the IDB executive team accompanying President Claver-Carone were Jessica Bedoya, Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer; James P. Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest, the Bank’s private-sector arm; Irene Arias, CEO of IDB Lab, the Bank’s innovation laboratory; and Gustavo De Rosa, Vice President for Finance and Administration.