CAF promotes integration and cooperation between Peru and Ecuador

(Lima, October 26, 2006).- CAF signed an agreement on the Cross-Border Development Plan for the Peru-Ecuador Border Region which will develop infrastructure and promote private investment in the region between the two countries. CAF President & CEO Enrique García and José Luis Garaycochea, executive director of the Cross-Border Plan, signed the agreement with Peruvian Foreign Minister José Antonio García Belaúnde as a witness of honor, in the Foreign Ministry.

After the signing, García said the CAF contribution to the project was a mechanism to stimulate and channel efforts to integrate the border region economically, speed up development and overcome its underdevelopment in relation to the rest of the territory of the two countries. "With this agreement we are supporting execution of programs to improve the productive, social and cultural infrastructure and services in the border regions of Peru and Ecuador, and identify areas and opportunities for investment in which the private sector can participate in executing and financing projects."

This backing for the Development Plan for the Peru-Ecuador Border Region reaffirms CAF’s commitment to sustainable development and regional integration. The specific objectives of the financial support are to improve productive and social infrastructure in areas where Peru and Ecuador share resources, strengthen integration and stimulate competitiveness in the populations of both countries.

The Development Plan was designed as a result of the signing of the Peru-Ecuador Expanded Agreement on Border Integration, Development and Neighborly Relations in Brasilia in 1998. The Plan will raise the standard of living of the populations of north and northeast Peru and southeast Ecuador and promote integration and cooperation between the two countries.