The Diplomat in Spain

The Minister of Development during his speech / Photo: CAF

Eduardo González. 17/07/2018

The Minister of Development, José Luis Ábalos, closed yesterday in Madrid a large and important conference of the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) with a call for the revitalization of the Ibero-American Community of Nations, in which Spain can play a «key» role as a “logistic connection platform» between Latin America and the EU.

«I am a strong supporter of the Ibero-American Community of Nations», an idea that must be «revitalized» and in which Spain can serve as a «logistic platform of connection with Europe», both in the political sphere and in the infrastructures, said the minister at the end of the conference Infrastructure for the integration of Latin America, held at the headquarters of Casa de América.

The event commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the entry of Spain into the CAF (the first non-Ibero-American country to do so). For the same reason, Madrid will host today the meeting of the Bank’s Board of Directors, which will be held for the first time in its history outside the Ibero-American region.

During the presentation, the CAF executive president, Luis Carranza, warned that Latin America should more than double its current investments in infrastructure if the region wishes to converge with Europe or Asia in terms of water, sanitation, electricity, transport, logistics and digital access. «We have a 39% gap compared to the top 20 countries in the world», he explained. It is «a huge challenge» and the CAF is committed to «supporting governments that present innovative initiatives”, he added.

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The CAF board will hold the first meeting of its history outside of Latin America today in Madrid

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For its part, the Secretary of State for Economy and Business Support, Ana de la Cueva, said that «the investment of Spanish companies and institutions such as CAF helped to close the vertical gap in infrastructure in Latin-America region». «The challenge of uniting the region with adequate infrastructure requires financing, planning and, above all, complementing the public effort with private support», she added.

In the same act, the Colombian Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Mauricio Cárdenas, stressed that the government of acting president, Juan Manuel Santos, set out two major purposes to resolve the country’s economic «bottlenecks»: the problem of armed conflict and the precarious transport infrastructure.

«Colombia has 1,100 municipalities, 344 of which were very affected by the armed conflict», he explained. For this reason, the State introduced a «Works for Taxes» model to rapidly develop these regions and is dedicating large investments to road and airport improvement projects, since «one of the dividends of peace has undoubtedly been the tourism».

For its part, the Minister of Development of Bolivia, Mariana Prado, explained that, although the Government of Evo Morales has prioritized «the most classic infrastructures to meet the demand necessary to integrate the different regions», such as roads and water, he has not forgotten innovation.