Panama hands over the chairmanship of the IDB Board of Governors

The 64th edition of the annual meeting of the Assembly of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) chose this Saturday José Manuel Vicente, Minister of Finance of the Dominican Republic, as the new president of the assembly.

At a meeting in Punta Cana, the assembly of governors, which is the bank’s highest authority, unanimously elected Vicente to replace the outgoing president, Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Panama, Héctor Alexander.

In his speech after accepting the position, Vicente emphasized that he hopes that the decisions made at the current annual meeting of the bank will bring “greater regional integrity, more opportunities for inclusive growth” and contribute to “reducing inequality”.

The IDB, the official pointed out, was a “faithful ally” of the region and played an important role “the key to the consolidation of the implementation of public policies” countries.

for his part, Alexander He wished his colleague success and reminded that it is necessary to find coordination mechanisms between multilaterals so that the obstacles they face become opportunities for development.

After that, the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, opened the first plenary session of these meetings, where he emphasized the need to invest “public and private” resources in projects that can help the Caribbean region to face the devastation caused by climate change.

“We are facing increasingly strong, irregular meteorological phenomena that are becoming more frequent and the damage they cause in key sectors such as energy and agriculture,” the politician emphasized during his speech at the session.

In this sense, Abinader explained, it is crucial that institutions like the IDB promote regional integration: “We are aware that the social and economic progress of our countries is achieved faster and more safely through cooperation”, sthe president understood.

He IDB President Ilan Goldfajnhe described the Dominican Republic as a model to follow, which has grown “at levels consistent with sound economic policies and an attractive approach for foreign investors.”

In this way, he highlighted some banking projects in the country such as the reconstruction of more than 1000 bridges and roads between 2016 and 2022, which represents 700 million dollars of damage that affected the productivity of the country; therefore, he insisted on a message that is repeated during the annual assembly, which he considers a “turning point in the region”.

goldfine commented that the IDB Group must become a “bigger and better institution”, capable of meeting the region’s financing and investment needs, while promoting them in sectors such as food security, renewable energy or the protection of areas of high biodiversity value, such as the Amazon.

The plenary sessions will last until tomorrow, March 10, when the governor’s agreements will be known, which will define the entity’s new strategy, the reform of the business model of IDB Invest and the promotion of the innovation organization IDB Lab.