The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) is currently holding its XI Annual Consultation with Governors of the countries comprising its Caribbean Country Department, and the President of the Caribbean Development Bank.
At the consultation, Guyana was among three member countries which signed loans for investments in education, health, resilient infrastructure, water and sanitation, or competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
With its focus on resilience, the consultation which commenced on Sunday and wraps up today, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; focused on aligning the IDB Group’s and Caribbean countries’ priorities and enhancing partnerships to build resilience in the region.
This is according to a press release from the IDB which said that the meeting significantly marks the first official visit of new IDB President, Ilan Goldfajn, to the Caribbean, who; in his address underscored the importance of setting priorities in order.
“When everything is a priority, nothing is,” he said in his speech.
Against this background, he said that first, social issues, including poverty, inequality—in all its dimensions—health, education and food insecurity, all of which are interconnected; must be top priority.
Second he said is the climate, stressing that “we must make it easier to invest in mitigation and adaptation” and that “we need to think of innovative ways to prepare, adapt and react with agility to natural disasters.”
Meanwhile, the third priority he said, is investing more in sustainable physical and digital infrastructure, prioritizing regional integration and mobilizing private capital.
This Goldfajn said, is key to creating jobs, boosting productivity, and promoting regional integration, but also to providing better social services and mitigating climate change.
He said that the internet in the Caribbean is often expensive and slow and that “we must strive to connect everyone because connectivity is a gateway to financial inclusion, and countless educational and economic opportunities.”
Goldfajn said that the IDB is uniquely positioned to help solve regional challenges; as “it is in our mandate, to think beyond national borders, to think of regional problems – like the climate crisis and food insecurity in the Caribbean – and regional solutions. And we can, and should, do so much more together as a group.”
Because of this, he said that the IBD supports regional initiatives to solve common problems, stating that for example, food insecurity is a common problem for the region that requires intra-regional collaboration in transport and trade to reduce food import bills.
“To rise to the challenge and seize opportunities, we must ensure the IDB delivers far more effective results. We must also expand work with the private sector and better leverage our capital,” he said.
According to the IDB press statement, the IDB Group is embarking on a new phase of effective development support for Latin America and the Caribbean that seeks to achieve better social outcomes, including through greater climate resilience and enhanced sustainable digital and physical infrastructure.
Caribbean member countries are being represented by Ministers and other high-level Government officials. Also participating in the consultation is a high-level delegation from the Caribbean Development Bank, which has a long-standing partnership with the IDB that facilitates support for Eastern Caribbean countries.
The Annual Consultation is also the occasion for loan signings which involved Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and Barbados, as these member-countries move ahead with investments to support their needs in areas such as education, health, resilient infrastructure, water and sanitation, or competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
According to the statement, in 2022, IDB support to the region included strengthening fiscal sustainability, investing in resilient infrastructure, supporting the development of the blue economy and the social sector, and promoting private sector development.
The IDB, the release said, also backed a range of innovative projects, such as enabling entrepreneurial ecosystems and helping provide housing to vulnerable groups such as women, youths, children, single-parent households, and persons living with disabilities.
The statement said that the consultation aims to consolidate the IDB Group’s support for the Caribbean in preparation for its annual meeting set for March 16th – 19th in Panama.
