CAF called for the II Meeting of Young National Leaders in Lima

The inaugural ceremony of this activity included the participation of Christian Asinelli, Director of Institutional Development, and Eleonora Silva, CAF's Director Representative in Peru.  

Speakers invited to the meeting included Javier Iguiñiz, Technical Secretary of the Foro del Acuerdo Nacional (Forum of the National Agreement), who spoke about the Development Prospects of Latin America; and Luis Enrique Torres, Microsoft's Director of Technology and Corporate Citizenship, who spoke about The New Technologies for the Development of Citizenship.  

When welcoming the participants, Christian Asinelli stated that CAF has decided to actively accompany the development of new leaderships in the region through a shared agenda with issues of common interest, that contributes to organize the different efforts and actions that are being carried out in each member country.  

He highlighted that, "The Meeting of Young National Leaders, whose first version took place in Buenos Aires, and will be replicated in Washington, D.C. shortly, represents a space for debate whose purpose is to promote progress in the country and the region through a greater interaction of the emerging leaderships of Latin America, who will soon be the ones responsible for establishing the standards for development that the citizens of our nations expect and deserve". 

At the same time, when reviewing the current situation in Latin America, Eleonora Silva stated that although the region was relatively unharmed by the international financial crisis, there is no room for complacency, as it must face serious challenges such as: work to achieve greater inclusion and better educational levels, increase productivity, promote innovation, improve competitiveness levels, and opening to other regions of the world. 

When referring to CAF's development agenda, Silva highlighted that the multilateral institution supports strategic sectors to promote sustainable development in the countries of the region, and is currently the main source of infrastructure and energy financing in Latin America, as 35 percent of its portfolio corresponds to the infrastructure sector, 28 percent to energy, 17 percent to social sectors, and 14 percent to productive sectors. In addition, she stated that CAF not only finances important projects in Peru, such as the North South Interoceanic Highways, the Camisea Project, Line 1 of the Lima Metro, or the Olmos Irrigation Projects, Majes Siguas II and Chavimochic III with the due socio-environmental safeguards, but it is also an institution the works in the generation and dissemination of knowledge in favor of public policies in the region.  

After a long debate where they had the opportunity to exchange opinons and prospects regarding national and regional challenges, the young Peruvian leaders agreed to establish a contact network to maintain a permanent link in order to continue with the dynamics of this type of meetings, and present plans and initiatives in the different sectors they represent.