New international profile for CAF: Mexico to be shareholder

(Caracas, October 12, 1990).- Three agreements which formalize Mexico’s entry as shareholder and promote financial and technological exchange between that nation and the five countries of the Andean Group were signed today in Caracas (Friday, October 12) with Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari as witness of honor.

The agreements promote a series of joint businesses and investments between the countries, at a time when all Latin American nations are advocating the creation of a free trade area in the region and are committed, as never before, to stimulating a practical integrationist process, without rhetoric, which leads to a common market.

The agreement was signed by Mexican Secretary of Finance and Public Credit Pedro Aspe Armella; CAF President & CEO Galo Montaño; and deputy director of Nacional Financiera Arturo Ortiz. The ceremony was attended by the ambassadors of the Andean republics accredited in Venezuela.

The agreements At the 64th meeting of the CAF Board held in Caracas in June this year, the entry of Mexico was authorized as series "C" shareholder. The first non-Andean country to subscribe to these shares.

According to the CAF capital structure, "C" class shares can be subscribed by extra-subregional natural persons or legal entities. This opens the way for ties with the other countries of Latin America, and with friendly nations interested in collaborating with continental integration.

Under the agreement, Mexico subscribes to 2,400 C" shares with a nominal value of US$5,000 each, and 1,600 shares of guarantee capital. The authorized institution is the Mexican development bank Nacional Financiera, attached to the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit, whose function - as development bank - is to channel financial and technical in favor of the industrial development of the country.

With Nacional Financiera, CAF signed a technical cooperation agreement to promote sectoral and regional investments, along with evaluation, execution and operation of projects; design and implementation of programs to assist small- and medium-sized industry and support for technological development; training for public and private consulting firms in the Andean subregion; technical design and advice for financing industrial parks and ports; and methodologies for controlling business management, industrial appraisals and support schemes for industry through risk capital.