CAF president to attend CARICOM Summit

CAF President & CEO Enrique García will attend the 14th Summit of the Heads of State of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) as special guest, following an invitation from Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert A. Ingraham who heads CARICOM.

The summit, to be held in Nassau Bahamas on July 5-9, will analyze economic-financial cooperation and other issues such as health, education, culture, communication and industrial relations, as well as issuing directives on foreign policy.

CAF has Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela among its shareholders, an excellent image on international financial markets, and has been strengthened by an investment grade rating from two risk-rating agencies of world prestige: Moody's and Standard and Poor's. Both firms made separate analyses of the institutional record, quality of loan portfolio and other financial indicators before assigning the higher rating. The Corporation is the only Latin American bank to have received this double rating.

Relations with the Caribbean The CAF president said the current move toward closer relations with the Caribbean region "is an integral part of the institution’s current policy in the sense of contributing with specific actions to strengthening links with the countries and financial institutions of the region in order to build an economic space."

Since 1992, CAF has signed several agreements with public and private banks in the Caribbean region, granting lines of credit to Royal Bank of Trinidad and Tobago Ltd, Central Bank of Barbados and Century National Bank Ltd of Jamaica, for a total amount of US$13 million.

These lines will finance foreign trade operations between the three Caribbean countries (Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica) and any member nation of the Andean Group, and with third countries provided the exported product contains at least 50% of inputs from the Andean countries.

Establishment of these lines of credit has already led to several commercial transactions in the manufacturing, chemical and food sectors, especially Andean exports of cacao powder, cornflour, instant coffee, candle wax, sulfuric acid and ceramics.

"These credit facilities -- García said -- are giving Andean-Caribbean private businesses an important market for commerce and investment, as well as an active exchange of information on their potentialities."

Finally, he said CAF had done a complete study of markets, products, customers, availability of transport and distribution channels for goods in the Caribbean area, as well as participating in forums to inform Caribbean businesses of the credit mechanisms which it offers to stimulate foreign trade.