Chile, Costa Rica and Honduras promote regional integration joining as full members and expanding presence at CAF
July 18, 2022
Chile and Costa Rica have pledged to raise their share in order to access the benefits of full membership, while Honduras signed an agreement to subscribe ordinary shares as a requirement to become a CAF member country.
CAF—development bank of Latin America—is moving forward in its strategy of becoming the Green Bank of the region, a leader in social and economic recovery, and a driver of regional integration by increasing the shares of Chile and Costa Rica towards full membership and the accession of Honduras to the institution.
The ceremony was held at the Chapter House of the Bolivar Palace in Panama City, which hosted the Congress of Panama in 1826, convened by the Liberator Simón Bolívar as the first space for Latin American integration, with the purpose of creating a confederation of Latin American countries aimed at bolstering the independence of the new nations and for mutual defense. Honduras’ Finance Minister Rixi Moncada, Costa Rica’s Finance Minister Nogui Acosta, and Chile’s Finance Ministry representative Rodolfo Bustamente signed the agreements for the subscription of ordinary shares of CAF.
At the end of the ceremony, CAF Executive President Sergio Díaz-Granados noted: “Almost 200 years after that pioneering meeting of American unity, we are reaffirming today our commitment to the region’s integration by welcoming Honduras and Chile and Costa Rica with open arms as full members. We are grateful for this vote of confidence in CAF as an unconditional partner in improving the quality of life of Latin Americans and Caribbeans, sustainable development, and regional integration, and we will ratify it with a renewed agenda focused on becoming the Green Bank and the bank of social and economic recovery, which we are already materializing with concrete initiatives to protect the oceans, promote reforestation and carbon markets, among others.”
CAF equity strengthening , recently recognized by S&P Ratings Global with a rating upgrade to AA- with a positive outlook, materializes with the USD 7 billion capital increase approved by its Shareholders’ Meeting last March, which will start to have an effect since tomorrow, with the signing of several share subscription agreements, where CAF shareholders will determine the details of their respective contribution to 2030.
The mission of CAF—development bank of Latin America—is the promotion of sustainable development and regional integration by financing public and private sector projects, providing technical cooperation and other specialized services. Established in 1970 and currently consisting of 20 countries—18 from Latin America and the Caribbean, along with Spain and Portugal—and 13 private banks, it is one of the main sources of multilateral financing and an important storehouse of knowledge for the region.