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Luis Alberto Moreno inaugurates mandate as new president of Inter-American Development Bank

The newly elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, inaugurated his mandate today by calling for a results-based Bank culture, individual responsibility and achievement.

A former Colombian cabinet minister and diplomat, Moreno said he was committed to deepening the accomplishments of his predecessors while making the Bank “an elite institution, not an institution of elites,” that will be agile, flexible, efficient and with clear objectives and a motivated and competent staff. “We can not be prisoners of ideologies or theoretical artifices,” he added. “We will be guided by the benefits we can achieve for our citizens.”

Among the priorities Moreno stressed were the need to build a unified vision to promote the private sector, forge public-private alliances, increase Bank participation in infrastructure and offer a bridge to emigrant communities. He said the IDB will continue its leadership in developing integrated strategies and programs to reduce poverty and promote institutional reform, inclusion and social investment.

He said there was no single paradigm or “magic formulas or shortcuts” for development. “It is an exercise in firm strategic convictions, but with tactical flexibility and risks,” he added. At the same time he stressed the importance of strengthening the operational areas of the Bank and “drawing closer to its member countries,” which implies greater decentralization and delegation of responsibilities. “We must focus on what we do well and on what will have the greatest impact in order to successfully carry out our mission,” he added.

Moreno said he was optimistic about the future of Latin America and the Caribbean and convinced that “there will be a turning point in the war against poverty and overcoming inequity and inequality, just as there will be in fighting corruption, exclusion and the inefficiency that undermine the legitimacy of democracy.”

“The factor that will make a difference will be our passion to achieve results and to consolidate a true culture about this concept,” he said. “A results-based culture is not achieved by decree; it is accomplished day by day within a framework of many actions. If we want to be a relevant factor in development, we must lead by example. Our region and its poorest and most excluded people deserve nothing less than this.”

The IDB, the oldest and largest regional development bank in the world, was founded in 1959. It has 47 country members and is the main source of multilateral financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB group is composed of the Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Fund.

The Board of Board of Governors, the highest authority of the Bank, elected Moreno president of the institution for a five-year term on July 27. His predecessors were Felipe Herrera of Chile (1960-1971), Antonio Ortíz Mena of Mexico (1971-1987) and Enrique V. Iglesias of Uruguay (1988-2005).

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