Backing for the plastics industry

(Caracas, November 12, 1999).– A non-reimbursable technical cooperation grant for 29 million bolivars (US$43,000) was today granted to Cadena de Olefinas (Olefins Chain), body which groups the public and private companies of the plastics industry, which is of fundamental importance in the petrochemical sector.

CAF President & CEO Enrique García said during the signing of the agreement that the operation was fully in accordance with one of the operating strategies of the institution he heads, which is to support projects and programs which improve competitive advantages in the various productive sectors.

He added that an important element of the project was that it brings together all the leading actors in the plastics industry chain, with a view to developing an action plan aimed at generating long-term strategies for the sector.

Minister of Production and Commerce Jesús Montilla – who also signed the agreement – said that with this project, the national government proposed to create institutional mechanism to strengthen relations between the various actors of the plastics chain in order to define a common view of the sector and the strategic plan needed to achieve it, which will include behavior norms, mechanisms to resolve everyday problems and long-term strategies, among others.

The funds granted by CAF will partially finance the Joint Strategic Generation of the Olefin Plastics Chain project, whose main objective is to create the institutional mechanisms needed to develop inter-relations between the various actors in this industry in order to define a common view.

For the Olefins Chain, the agreement was signed by the president of the Venezuelan Confederation of Industries (CONINDUSTRY), Juan Calvo; president of the National Council of Scientific Research (CONICIT), Manual Martínez; vice president and deputy CEO of PDVSA Gas, Jorge Kamkoff; president of Petroquímica de Venezuela (PEQUIVEN), Eduardo Praselj; executive director of the Venezuelan Association of Chemical and Petrochemical Industries (ASOQUIM), Geraldina Palm; and the president of the Venezuelan Plastics Industry Association (AVIPLA), Alvaro Varela.

CAF is a financial institution formed by the five countries of the Andean Community – Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela – together with as extra-regional partners Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago.

In this context, in consideration of an application from its shareholder countries, CAF is financing the Andean Competitiveness Project, which is being executed, jointly with Harvard University, with the objective of starting a national and regional dialogue to promote innovative systems which improve the competitive environment and raise the level of well-being of citizens.