The Inter-American Development Bank today celebrated the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean with a seminar in Buenos Aires attended by authorities and experts in development and integration in the region.
The seminar, entitled “Integration Perspectives in Latin America and the Caribbean at the Beginning of the 21st Century,” was opened by Argentine finance minister Roberto Lavagna and INTAL director Ricardo Carciofi.
Lavagna discussed three working areas to move forward in regional integration: income distribution, social capitalism and investment in infrastructure, particularly in energy.
Carciofi stressed that INTAL will continue to support integration processes with a broad perspective, in terms of the diversity of both the issues addressed and the approaches used.
IDB president Enrique V. Iglesias is also scheduled to participate in the event. During his 17-year tenure as leader of the IDB, Iglesias has actively promoted initiatives to enhance regional integration and trade in Latin America. He has expressed his special appreciation to those who contributed to deepening and developing integration in Latin America jointly with the IDB during these four decades.
Among the special guests at the seminar were distinguished academics and the following authorities for regional trade blocs: the secretary general of the Andean Community, Allan Wagner; the chairman of the MERCOSUR Committee of Permanent Representatives, Eduardo Duhalde; the secretary general of the Permanent Secretariat of the General Treaty on Central American Economic Integration, Haroldo Rodas Melgar; the secretary general of the Latin American Integration Association, Didier Operti; the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, José Luis Machinea; and the deputy secretary for international trade negotiations of Mexico, Ángel Villalobos Rodríguez.
INTAL was established in 1965 to promote regional integration, one of the pillars of IDB activity since its founding, and is part of the IDB Integration and Regional Programs Department. The institute provides training in trade and integration, helps improve the respective institutional capacity of the countries in the region and supports networks for research and the dissemination of ideas and information.