CAF strengthens its cooperation with Spanish institutions

During his official visit to Spain, Enrique Garcia, Executive President of CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, signed diverse cooperation agreements with Spanish institutions such as ADIF, CEDEX and ICO, in order to strengthen cooperation with the railroad and financial-entrepreneurial sectors, within its strategy to support the development of relationships between Spain and Latin America.

In the presence of Ana Pastor, Development Minister, the presidents of CAF, Enrique Garcia, and of ADIF, Gonzalo Ferre, signed a cooperation agreement with the Administrator of Railroad Infrastructures (ADIF, for its acronym in Spanish), for the next three years. The objective is to promote knowledge and facilitate the transfer of information in matters regarding railroads through studies and reports that will be carried out jointly; organization and support for courses, conferences, seminars, and workshops; and international agreements between countries, universities, and knowledge centers for Research and Development (R&D) projects. 

For Enrique Garcia this alliance will provide an impulse to the infrastructures and to the connections between the countries of the Latin American region, which have much to learn from the Spanish railroad administration. He pointed out that "if we learn in depth about the new technologies in the sector, we may be able to drastically change the development of the region". 

This agreement fulfills part of the financial institution's mission, whose ultimate objective is to support progress in its shareholder countries in a sustainable manner. In this case, it has done so through the promotion of strategic dialogue to improve the quality of their public services. 

ADIG has developed a significant experience throughout the years with respect to the construction and maintenance of conventional and high-speed railroad infrastructures, as well as regarding the regulation of train circulation. 

This entity has been internationally recognized not only in these spheres, but also in those referring to cooperation actions, personnel training, and technical assistance. 

In the same event, Enrique Garcia and the Director of the Studies and Experimentation Center for Public Works (CEDEX, for its acronym in Spanish), Mariano Navas, signed an agreement to formalize the will of the parties to proceed with the collaboration in the studies for the development of  projects and technical assistance programs, scientific, technical, and technological innovation research, as well as transfer of knowledge, when required by CAF, to promote development in the area on infrastructures in Latin America. 

Agreements with ICO

During the morning, Enrique Garcia and Roman Escolano, President of the Official Credit Institute (ICO, for its acronym in Spanish), signed an agreement for the issuance of guarantees for up to USD 300 million to facilitate the participation of small and medium-sized Spanish enterprises in bidding processes and the execution of projects in Latin America. 

During the ceremony, Enrique Garcia highlighted that "offering the possibility of obtaining guarantees through ICO, shows our interest in supporting the participation of the Spanish private sector in the economic growth of Latin America and in the promotion of a culture of exchange of practices that leads to the strengthening of the commercial management of SMEs and of subjects such as governance and social corporate responsibility." 

The objective of this Agreement is to deepen the support to Spanish enterprises that are in the process of expanding their businesses in Latin America, as well as to Latin American companies that want to increase their operations in Spain. This Agreement was framed in the program announced in the Ibero-American Summit of Chiefs of State and Government, held in Cadiz in November of 2012. 

Garcia explained that "At this time, most Latin American countries are developing important bidding processes which include the participation of small and medium-sized Spanish enterprises that require guarantees to participate. These guarantees may be issued by CAF which, in turn, would get ICO's counter-guarantees". 

Thus, Spanish enterprises will be able to expand their actions in Latin America, internationalizing their businesses. Simultaneously, this activity will "positively impact the Ibero-American integration of the private sector in our region" highlighted Garcia.