The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, will chair, as from August and during one year, the FONPLATA Board of Governors meetings. Likewise, the Undersecretary of International Financial Relations, Felix Martin Soto, will chair, during one year as well, the Board of Directors meeting of the organization, after participating this Wednesday in the 153rd Regular Board of Directors Meeting in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

During said meeting, the political update of acquisition and financing projects for other member countries was addressed. The Board of Directors is responsible for the management of the Fund operations, establishes FONPLATA policies and approves credit operations and the annual budget of the organization.

The Board of Governors is the highest executive body of the Fund and it decides how to spend the amount perceived by the organization, approves the annual report of the Board of Directors and the financial statements duly audited. In addition, it chooses the President and the external auditors.

FONPLATA is a multilateral organization comprised by 5 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which main goal is to support the integration of its member countries to achieve an inclusive development within the geographical areas of influence of La Plata Basin through credit operations and non-refundable resources.

During the 160th Board of Directors Meeting of the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the operations for the “Comprehensive management of Lujan River Basin Project, Stage II” and the “Support for the development of public-private projects Program” were approved. Argentina was represented at the Meeting by the Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Finance, Pablo Quirno, and the Undersecretary of International Financial Relations, Felix Martin Soto.

In addition, during the meeting, Pablo Quirno signed the loan agreements for the “Infrastructure Program of the Strategic Plan of Sustainable Tourism of the Province of Catamarca” and the “Sectorial Program of Comprehensive Approach of the Energy Sector”.

The Board of Directors Meeting, held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was the first one presided by the President of the CAF who took office in April this year, Luis Carranza Ugarte, and within said context, the 2017-2022 strategy was presented.

The “Comprehensive management of Lujan River Basin Project, Stage II”, amounting to 120 million dollars, is for the Province of Buenos Aires. The objective of this project, which benefits five locations of Buenos Aires, is to control the level of flow and the flooding consequences in the Lujan River Basin. In that direction, the Lujan River Master Plan consists of 2 stages, the first one taking place in the middle and lower part of the basin and the second one in the middle and higher part. The first stage, for 100 million dollars, was approved in July 2016.

The “Support for the development of public-private projects Program” was approved for a total amount of 100 million dollars. It is aimed at contributing to the National Government’s efforts to strengthen this public policy that enables the private investment participation in priority sectors of the country’s economy.
The Program fosters public-private partnership (PPP) investment by strengthening institutions and regulations. This operation will help the Ministry of Finance to apply Argentine Law No. 27328 through the implementation of the PPP Unit, which is aimed at promoting private investment in the following sectors: infrastructure, housing, activities and services, productive investment, investigation and technological innovation.

The “Infrastructure Program of the Strategic Plan of Sustainable Tourism of the Province of Catamarca” has a total cost of 17.14 million dollars, 13 out of which shall be financed by the CAF. It is a direct loan for the Province of Catamarca which is aimed at developing infrastructure and touristic products that shall increase the number of tourists in said Province and, therefore, the income generated by this economic activity.

The “Sectorial Program of Comprehensive Approach of the Energy Sector” consists in supporting investment in energy infrastructure within the country, in particular gas transportation. The amount of the loan shall be equivalent to 150 million dollars.

In addition, on Monday, the Argentine team participated in a working dinner where they addressed the comprehensive management of disaster risk in Latin America and the role of the CAF in that sense. Nowadays, Argentina’s operations with the CAF amount to 3.3 billion dollars for the public sector.

The CAF works in areas such as road development, sanitation, risk, municipal works, schools, support to the national university system, among others, and in innovative sectors such as atomic energy and spatial development, a distinctive mark of this organization. For that reason, Argentina continues working together with this organization that promotes sustainable development through initiatives related to growth strategies for the country.

The Chief of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Finance, Pablo Quirno, signed this Monday together with the President of FONPLATA, Juan Notaro Fraga, a 40-million-dollar loan agreement for the Access to productive Financing for the North of Argentina Program. The Undersecretary of International Financial Relations, Felix Martin Soto, also attended the meeting.

The Program will promote the access to credit for small and medium businesses in competitive conditions, granted by the Bank of Investment and Foreign Trade (BICE, for its acronym in Spanish). This way, the loan will contribute to the development of the productive sector of the North of Argentina and of La Plata Basin, benefitting SMEs in Jujuy, Salta, Tucuman, La Rioja, Catamarca, Misiones, Corrientes, Chaco, Formosa and Santiago del Estero. This Plan is part of the National Government’s guidelines and objectives to encourage the most vulnerable sector of the Argentine economy.

In addition, Quirno and Soto will attend today the opening of the new FONPLATA office in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Tomorrow, the 153rd Board of Directors Meeting of this organization will take place to address the political update in acquisitions and financing projects for other member-countries.

Nowadays, the Argentine Republic has 14 projects financed by FONPLATA for a total of 373 million dollars. These projects are mainly aimed at the improvement of infrastructure, productive development, strengthening of public investment planning, sanitary prevention, IT inclusion and emergency actions for flooding.

The mission of FONPLATA, created in 1974, is to achieve the integration of its member-countries for an inclusive development, contributing to reduce socio-economic inequalities, giving priority to the complementarity and combination of efforts to enable a better insertion in the region and the global market. Within that framework, FONPLATA works side by side with our country to promote and finance regional integration policies among the countries of La Plata Basin.

The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, participated this Thursday – in his capacity as Governor before the World Bank – in the activities of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the Monetary Fund in Washington. Caputo gave a speech at the Panel “Infrastructure: Latin America and the Caribbean’s New Growth Engine”. The Chief of Cabinet, Pablo Quirno, attended the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) Advisory Council Meeting and participated in the forum “Country Infrastructure Program. Focus on Latin America”.

During the exhibition, Caputo said: “We have an ambitious infrastructure plan, much greater than the average for the region”. He also explained: “In order to attract investment, we need an appropriate legal framework, to build confidence and credibility”; and he also added: “Over the last 15 months, the National Government has done a great job rebuilding the credibility the country had lost and we are now receiving the benefits of said effort”.

In this sense, the panel focused on the infrastructure investment in Latin America and the Caribbean to pave the way for the economic recovery. The panel also included the participation of the Vice President of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Familiar; the Director of the Public Credit Office of the Ministry of Treasury and Public Credit of Mexico, Alberto Torres; the President of the National Development Financial Agency of Colombia, Clemente Del Valle; the Minister of Public Finance of Guatemala, Julio Hector Estrada; the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications of Chile, Paola Tapia; and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Planning of Brazil, Jorge Arbache. Gabriela Frias (CNN in Spanish) acted as moderator.

Earlier, in an interview conducted by Mariana Ceratti and broadcasted by the World Bank through Facebook Live, the Minister of Finance said: “We have a long-standing relationship with the World Bank, it is a strategic partner of our development plan and it is particularly important in this moment when we have the most ambitious infrastructure plan of our history”. In this sense, he recalled: “Since Macri took office, the World Bank has financed 2.3 billion dollars for the public sector and with very convenient deadlines”.

Likewise, Mr. Minister said: “We are studying new alternatives for investment in infrastructure, such as the development of the local capital market and the Public-Private Participation (PPP) scheme, which are very important financing tools”. Finally, he said: “Today, our duty is to build the necessary conditions for Argentina to be the attractive country for investment it once was”.

In addition, during his exhibition, Quirno talked about the Public-Private Participation (PPP) scheme as a tool to accompany the infrastructure development in Argentina, for it constitutes a balance between public and private investment.

Likewise, during the afternoon, Caputo held a meeting with the President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno, to follow up on the projects in which IDB supports Argentina.

Later, Mr. Minister will meet with the Vice President of GE, John G. Rice, and other authorities of the company. At the end of the day, he will attend a reception at the Argentine Embassy within the framework of the World Malbec Day together with Pablo Quirno, Santiago Bausili and the Undersecretary of International Financial Relations, Martin Soto.

Minister Caputo will finish his agenda in Washington this Friday, after holding a bilateral meeting with the President of the World Bank, Jim Kim. In addition, he will meet with Gilbert Huongo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations body aimed at eliminating poverty in rural areas of developing countries. He will also meet with the Senior Director for the Finance and Markets Global Practice of the World Bank Group, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, and they will talk about the main challenges of financial inclusion. Mr. Minister will also meet with authorities of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to evaluate financing possibilities for the railway system. Caputo will also meet with important investors of the region.