Binational Workshop for Implementation of Amazon Sector Development Plan at Bolivia-Peru Border Integration Zone

The Binational Workshop was organized by the Regional Initiatives Directorate (DIR) and the CAF Office in Bolivia, and brings the first phase of interventions at the Bolivian-Peruvian border to a close. The purpose of the event was to foster joint discussions on the priorities in the area. The binational business round was sponsored by the CAF Office in Peru, the Vice-President of the Private Sector, the Cities with a Future program and the Social Innovation Directorate. This binational meeting was held following a mandate of the agreement from the Presidential Binational Meeting held in May.

The initiative is part of DIR efforts since early 2019 to devise a border development proposal with a “bottom-up” approach, which includes the first national workshop in Puerto Maldonado (Peru) in April and a second national workshop in Cobija in June. Both events were attended by authorities and experts on the most relevant issues for local development and produced preliminary conclusions on the development priorities that each location considered most relevant.

The workshop was officially opened by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Integration of Bolivia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Benjamin Blanco Ferri; Director General of Border Development and Integration at Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Juan del Campo Rodríguez; Governor of Pando department Luis Adolfo Flores Roberts; President of the Pando Federation of Private Entrepreneurs Gerardo Lima; and CAF Regional Initiatives Director Ana María Sanjuan; among other authorities. Thereafter, the DIR presented the conclusions from the national workshops, which will serve as significant input for subsequent binational discussions in a plenary session.

A business panel was held on the second day featuring two experts, one from Peru and one from Bolivia, who examined the trade challenges at the border area in the macroeconomic context of their countries, to then elaborate on the opportunities for binational cooperation in the area.

The event produced a list of projects and proposals suggested by the participants on topics such as trade and promotion of exports, productivity, financing and partnerships, regulation and institutional coordination/articulation. The roadmap drawn based on these proposals, with the valuable inputs of CAF representatives, will guide a second phase of interventions in this border area, and will include concrete short-term projects and major long-term intervention strategies.