Infrastructure is crucial for the development of Latin American countries

(La Paz. July 28, 2009).- The Andean Development Corporation presented in a seminar its annual Report on Economy and Development (RED) 2009 "Paths for the future: infrastructure management in Latin America." The publication, which is prepared with the help of outstanding academics and personalities from the region, is a contribution to the debate on public policy options which will lead to the economic and social development of the countries of Latin America.

CAF President & CEO Enrique Garcia explained that the work was a contribution to improving infrastructure systems. The fifth edition is the continuation of a series of works which analyze solutions to the growth problems of member countries, intelligent participation in the world economy and productive transformation, he added.

"In the field of Latin American infrastructure, in the last ten years, CAF has become one of the main sources of financing because this area is a central factor in the region's strategy of economic and social development given its impact on the well-being of the people and their production; and its facilitating role in the process of trade in goods and services," Garcia said.

Bolivian Minister of Public Works Walter Delgadillo said the CAF initiative was an "academic and technical contribution, adding that the basic services of the infrastructure system must be considered as "human rights."

In reply, the CAF president said it was not sufficient to achieve macroeconomic stability but it was also necessary to achieve growth with quality which means social inclusion and equilibrium with the environment. "Obviously this has to be linked to the quality of life of people"; in addition to the technical aspects, projects also have to measure the impact for maximizing benefits for society.

During the seminar, international experts emphasized that any development process has to be marked by an increase in the quantity and quality of available infrastructure, for which reason this is a central element in every country's public policy agenda, apart from the level of development achieved.

At a time when Latin America is facing great challenges in the social, production and trade areas, CAF's key reflection relates to identifying the different types of infrastructure - roads, electricity, water, health and education - as a determining factor for closing the large gaps which separate our region from the developed world.

On this basis, the intention of RED 2009 is to offer an integrated view of these policy issues, covering the latest advances in knowledge of impact measurement, and organizing a broad range of information and research on infrastructure management to support public actors in their task of achieving socially efficient provision.

The seminar's main conclusions were: first, the region must make greater efforts in ex-post evaluation of the impacts of infrastructure projects; second, the effective provision of infrastructure services in the region requires a balanced combination of planning by the State and participation by the private sector. This mix provides, by means of an appropriate institutional framework, a proportional distribution of risks between both actors while limiting the possibility of interest groups capturing the project.