The Inter-American Development Bank today approved the establishment of a $20 million fund for technical cooperation to support regional integration initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. The fund will support the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), the Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) and Caribbean regional integration initiatives.
The IDB resources will finance on a contingent recovery basis pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, project design, environmental studies and other activities to prepare infrastructure projects in the priority areas identified by IIRSA, PPP and other initiatives.
A single project may receive as much as $1.5 million in technical assistance financing from the fund.
The creation of the IDB Integration Fund demonstrates the pro-active role of the IDB in assuring the effectiveness, stability and sustainability of integration initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is also designed to have a catalytic effect to encourage the donor community to grant greater assistance to these initiatives.