Enrique García reelected CAF president
With the unanimous vote of the five member countries - Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela - Enrique García of Bolivian nationality was reelected for a second term as president & CEO of the institution.
The decision was taken during the 88th meeting of the CAF Board held today in Caracas. The meeting was attended by ministers, vice ministers and senior directors of financial and economic development organizations from the public and private sectors of the five member countries, representing series "A" and "B" shareholders.
García’s appointment took place shortly after the Andean Presidential Council -- meeting last week in the summit in Trujillo, Peru – declared its backing for the work of CAF given its excellent operating and financial results.
The CAF Board is formed by 11 principal members: two for each country plus a director representing the 22 private banks of the Andean region which are also shareholders. The Board elects the president & CEO who is the legal representative for a five year term.
The Corporation’s partners include countries outside the Andean region (Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago) as "C" series shareholders which are not represented on the Board at present.
García -- former Bolivian minister of Planning and Coordination, with an outstanding record of work in public and private organizations at regional level -- was reelected for the 1996-2001 period.
During the current administration, a sweeping process of institutional strengthening was begun, which included the restructuring of policies, procedures and organization. The result was the formulation of a clear operating and financial strategy for the medium and long term in accordance with the ongoing structural changes and the goal of macroeconomic stabilization in a framework of opening to which all the member countries have been committed since the start of the decade.
As a result, CAF is now vigorously working to comply with the requirements of this new direction by offering loans, technical assistance and a range of financial instruments to the public and private sectors, ranging from large corporations to microenterprises, and taking social and environmental issues very much into account. The Corporation is also the main source of private investment in the Andean region and the largest provider of long-term funds.
A special element is the financial strategy adopted by the Corporation which is to generate most of its funds in industrialized countries, especially international capital markets where CAF has become a versatile and prestigious issuer of medium- and long-term bonds. Based on this success, CAF has been received several financial awards, especially the investment-grade ratings obtained in the last few years from Moody’s, Standard & Poor's and IBCA.
Another important element is CAF’s deep integrationist vocation as reflected by the opening of its share capital to extraregional partners from Latin America and the Caribbean, and the expansion of its range of its operations with them, as proposed and approved by the Board today.