New Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Mauricio Claver-Carone has promised to embrace and work with all countries during his tenure, including those that rejected his candidacy.
During a roundtable virtual discussion with journalists from the Caribbean, the first since elected, Claver-Carone expressed gratitude to Guyana for being one of the countries that nominated him to head the IDB. “I was honoured to be nominated by five countries. One of those was Guyana. I think that was great,” he said.
Asked by Stabroek News how as the first non-Latin American head of the IDB he intended to mend fences with parts of the region that opposed his candidacy, Claver-Carone rejected the view that he was not Latin-American, given that he comes from a Caribbean mother and grew up in Miami speaking Spanish.
“I challenge the notion that I am not Latino. I have been Latin all my life. It just happens that I was born in Miami. I speak Spanish all my life. I am Latin as much as anybody in the region is. So I would argue that Miami is as Latin as it comes and I would argue that it is the capital of Latin America. I challenge the notion of I am not Latin, in that regards, but I am proud of my birth place and it is a great place,” he said.
Acknowledging the opposition to his candidacy, he noted that on the day after the election he was on the phone with President Alberto Fernández of Argentina talking about how they can work together and get a unified agenda. “I was very positive. The next day, I spoke to President [Gertrudis] Echenique of Chile and we had the same conversation. I spoke with the finance minister of Mexico, who obviously, we have a working relationship with, which is our largest neighbour… so, I think, frankly, we are looking at a unified agenda,” he added.
President Irfaan Ali has defended his government’s decision to support the controversial Trump administration candidate after being asked to do so by the US.
“The US candidate was put to us and we have offered our support because we think the US candidate is a good candidate and it is a candidate that would effectively carry out the functions,” Ali had said on the sidelines of the swearing in of ministers of his government.
Asked about the rationale behind supporting the US official when conventionally the candidate has always come from a Latin American country, Ali replied, “I am not dealing with convention. I am dealing with a request that was made to the Government of Guyana and the Government of Guyana has no objection in supporting that.”
Claver-Carone is the first person from outside Latin America to lead the Washington-based IDB since its founding in 1959.
When he gave his first address as IDB President, he underscored his commitment for a development push for countries in the region as he highlighted job creation and an increase in capital as goals for his first five-year tenure.
On Friday, he said that his remarks were well received and he looks forward to working with all countries.
“We had a board meeting yesterday afternoon, and literally all of the countries, including those who had issues on the candidacy because of my birthplace, they came out and said we are totally on Board. They presented me a letter from the Board with the countries that was put together by all of the shareholders and it happened to coincide with a lot of the vision I put forward. So we are already in a good synergy,” he said.
According to his work profile, from 2004 to 2017, Claver Carone worked as a Washington DC-based lobbyist. During this period he served as Executive Director of two organizations —Cuba Democracy Advocates and Cuba Democracy Public Advocacy Inc.
The IDB states that “Prior to his election, Mr. Claver-Carone served as Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council. In this capacity, he was the U.S. President’s principal advisor on issues related to Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. During his tenure, Mr. Claver-Carone conceptualized a whole-of-government economic growth initiative, América Crece (“Growth in the Americas”), which led to the creation of energy and infrastructure finance frameworks with nearly half of the nations in Latin America and the Caribbean. He also spearheaded the first White House-led Western Hemisphere Strategic Framework for U.S. inter-agency policy guidance and development since 2004.”
It add, “Mr. Claver-Carone previously served as the United States Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he represented the United States, as the largest shareholder on the IMF’s Executive Board.”
He said that having been on the other side of the table, as a board member of the IMF, he understands fully the importance of working with all stakeholders to create consensus and will continue to ensure that is the modus operandi of the IDB under his tenure. “I know the importance of working for all shareholders in trying to create consensus,” he said.
