Uruguay joins Andean Development Corporation

In the presence of the president of Uruguay, George Batlle, the foreign minister, Didier Opertti, and the economy minister, Alberto Bensión, the subscription agreement for common stock, which formalizes Uruguay’s admission into the Andean Development Corporation, was signed in Montevideo by the CAF executive president, Enrique García and the president of the Central Bank of Uruguay, César Rodríguez Batlle.

The multilateral financial institution now has among its members all the countries of the Andean Community and MERCOSUR, in addition to Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Chile. Membership of Costa Rica and Spain is in process.

García said the presence of Uruguay in the CAF would favor even more the productive integration of the continent’s two subregional blocs, given the traditional integrationist commitment of the country, headquarters of MERCOSUR since its creation in 1991 and one of the principal promoters of the Paraguay-Paraná waterway, a major integration project supported by the CAF.

"Always in the context of the integration strategy we share, Uruguay’s membership will contribute to stimulating the regional integration process that is going ahead through the identification of sustainable infrastructure and logistic hubs, with the ultimate objective of the physical integration of all South America," García added.

The integration hubs form the South American Regional Integration Initiative (IIRSA), agreed at the presidential summit of Brasilia in September 2000, with the aim of providing the continent with an efficient integrated infrastructure as a fundamental bridge for trade between the countries of South America, and between them and international markets.

With the opening of these corridors, the resulting economic and commercial unity of South America with all its potential will generate the level of competitiveness needed to enter international markets on better conditions in the current globalization process, the CAF chief said.

Uruguay’s entry into the CAF, together with that of Argentina signed in August this year, will strengthen development of the IIRSA because of these two countries’ geographical links with Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Chile, and speed up the execution of major trans-border projects such as the Paraguay-Paraná waterway.

For Uruguay, this action also opens a new window for diversification of its sources of financing and the marketing of its products, which should increase its exports, diversify its domestic market, and generate new sources of employment.

The CAF is currently financing a series of major infrastructure projects for the South American integration process, including the Bolivia-Brasil Gas Pipeline; the Bolivia-Peru Ilo-Desaguadero Integration Corridor; the Paraguay-Bolivia Integration Corridor, Trans Chaco Highway; the Brazil-Venezuela Integration Corridor; the Brazil-Venezuela Electricity Interconnection; the Road Infrastructure Program in the Inter-oceanic Corridor with Panama; the Roads for Peace Transport Program in Colombia; the Yacambú-Quíbor Water System in Venezuela; and the Chavimochic Irrigation and Water Supply System in Peru.