Expanded presence in Paraguay

The president & CEO of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), Enrique García, signed today with the ministers of Finance, Dionisio Borda; and Public Works and Communications, José Alberto Alderete, a US$10 million-loan agreement to improve and rehabilitate roads that form part of the country’s Main Road Network, under the Paraguayan Eastern Region Corridor Integration Program,. The project is to be executed by the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) through the Roads Department.

CAF president & CEO said that this project - known as Rehabilitation and Paving of Integration Corridors, National Route 11 and branch to National Route 10 - is another project financed by the corporation under the South American Regional Infrastructure Integration Initiative (IIRSA). The IIRSA is conceived to modernize the region’s physical integration infrastructure in the energy, telecommunications, and transport areas, as a key component of the economic and social development process in South America.

García also signed a non-reimbursable technical cooperation agreement for US$30,850 with Finance Minister Dionisio Borda. The funds will be used to prepare the studies required for the Western Integration Corridors Program, with the Ministry of Public Works and Communications acting as executing agency.

During the visit, CAF chief executive officer met with Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte, with the presence of Finance Minister Dionisio Borda, Public Works and Communications Minister José Alberto Alderete, and CAF Regional Programs Director Alexis Gomez. The meeting reviewed the support that this multilateral financial institution has been providing to Paraguay through financing for major integration infrastructure projects. The participants also considered the immediate actions to be taken to expand CAF support for the Road Infrastructure Investment Plan which the Paraguayan government plans to execute in 2005, including the process of increasing the country’s capital contribution, which will be initiated immediately.