Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias and Italy’s Treasury Minister Giuliano Amato will sign a letter of intent to establish a trust fund that will expand and deepen Italy’s commitment to support the economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Under the agreement, Italy will consider establishing a trust fund, to be administered by the IDB, that will provide resources that will be used to prepare innovative projects of the Multilateral Investment Fund, an autonomous fund of the IDB that promotes private sector growth.

The agreement will be signed on Saturday, April 15 at an event that coincides with the Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The MIF provides assistance through four program areas: modernization of the legal, financial, and regulatory frameworks necessary for a competitive private sector; development of the human resource base needed for increased investment flows and an expanded private sector; microenterprise and small business development; and equity or quasi-equity investments in small businesses.