Sergio Díaz-Granados begins his tenure as CAF's executive president

During the event, celebrated at Casa de Nariño, Duque and Díaz-Granados highlighted the importance of the fact that for the first time in history a Colombian holds the presidency of CAF, and augured a new era based on a more dynamic institution that will have a greater impact on regional integration and international development.

"Our institution is the most valuable resource in the field of regional integration, something that makes me assume this responsibility with the purpose of increasing such a fundamental collective patrimony, so that we can be increasingly effective in the search for the well-being of our peoples," said Díaz-Granados, CAF's executive president.

For his part, Iván Duque valued Díaz-Granados' capabilities and professional trajectory, and said that his nomination was an example of the consensus that Latin America needs.

"We need a CAF for all countries, beyond political differences. There is no doubt that today the levels of indebtedness of emerging countries exceed 95% of GDP. We have not yet recovered from the pandemic, and the demand for resources will be ever greater," said Duque.

In this sense, he said that "the capitalization of the institution is a must. This must be done by opening up new instruments that bring in non-borrowing countries in order to have greater subscribed capital and therefore greater credit capacity.

According to Díaz-Granados, CAF's challenges in the coming years include consolidating and strengthening its relationship with member countries and inviting new partners to join in Latin American development, as well as getting closer to the private sector in order to channel new investments.

CAF is a leading institution in Latin America and one of the main sources of multilateral financing for the region, with annual approvals exceeding US$14 billion. Since it began operations in 1970, the institution has approved more than US$200 billion to improve the quality of life of Latin Americans.