InterAction Fact Sheet The Inter-American Development Bank & Trade Capacity Building
IDB-Civil Society Initiative http://www.interaction.org/idb vmcelhinny@interaction.org (202) 667-8227
As part of the FTAA Tripartite Committee, the Inter-American Development Bank has provided technical support in the area of Trade Capacity Building to the FTAA process since its inception in 1994. According to the IDB’s website, the Bank has made trade related investments in the form of loans and grants totaling $5.8 billion. Regional technical cooperation, through non-reimbursable grants of $1-5 million (totaling approximately $20-30 million per year for the region), have become a prominent feature of the IDB’s support for regional and sub-regional trade and integration schemes. The IDB also began a small loan program for trade capacity building (Trade Sector Facility), which offers rapidly disbursing loans of up to $5 million (Four approved loans in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Bolivia. Loans in preparation: Trinidad & Tobago, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Dominican Republic). In addition, the IDB administers the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a US$ 1.3 billion grant and investment facility with a general mandate to improve and accelerate the climate for private sector growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. Over the past decade, nearly all countries of the region received MIF funding to help implement macroeconomic reforms that have strengthened the business framework, including financial and trade liberalization, deregulation, tax reform and privatization programs. At least half of the 400+ projects, which amount to about $1.5 million each on average, have promoted trade liberalization reforms. Trade capacity building supports research, implementation of trade agreements, staff training, ICT and trade diversification. These grants and concessionary loans provide incentives for deeper and broader commitments to regional trade integration schemes like FTAA and CAFTA, and encourage countries to be WTO consistent as they enter into multilateral agreements. An umbrella Memorandum of Understanding between the IDB and the WTO for assistance to countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in the trade area, under the Doha Development Agenda includes training in dispute settlement, agriculture, SPS, customs valuation, services, subsidies, investment, and government procurement. Some 38 training courses were scheduled for 2002. The IDB Trade, Integration and Hemispheric Issues Division supports all regional integration processes in Latin America (Mercosur, Central America, NAFTA, Andean Trade Initiative) etc., with special emphasis on research on trade rules, quotas, trade agreement approval mechanisms, etc. IDB-INTAL has generated a hemispheric database on tariffs for 30 countries. The IDB facilitated six pre-negotiation workshops to help CA countries prepare for the technical aspects of the intense 7 rounds of talks to begin in January.
The IDB Integration, Trade and Hemispheric Issues Division (ITD) is engaged in a wide range of trade-related technical cooperation and capacity-building activities. The Units and Divisions of the Trade and Integration SubDepartment undertake most of the initiatives of this type. The following is a non-exhaustive list of recent Bank trade-related technical cooperation and capacity-building activities. General A series of seminars are being organized throughout the region to train negotiators and officials in how to use a series of tools for undertaking Market Access analysis and negotiations, Hemispheric Database use, rules of origin, financial services, government procurement, fiscal effects of liberalization. Public outreach activities on ALCA, CAFTA and WTO, including public opinion surveys, public fora, workshops with LAC congressional leaders, civil society consultation fora Development of IDB Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model to assess the impact of trade liberalization
FTAA
Numerous policy analysis papers on a range of trade and integration topics are produced each year 2002 Edition of the Bank's flagship Economic and Social Progress in Latin America Report focuses on trade and integration REDINT: Research Network on Trade and Integration supported by IDB/INTAL Journal Integration & Trade published by IDB/INTAL
Financial Support to the FTAA Secretariat Technical support to nine negotiating groups and committees in the context of the Tripartite Committee Support to the Implementation of the Eight Customs Related Business Facilitation Measures The Bank has played an active role in the Hemispheric Cooperation Program's development and will continue to do so over the coming months and years. WTO Cooperation INTAL sponsors WTO Training Courses in Latin America and the Caribbean Support for WTO Trade Policy Reviews in the OECS countries Two institutions are jointly developing a "Negotiations Toolkit" for officials in Latin America and the Caribbean. Memorandum of Understanding lays out a series of areas for cooperation Central America Trade Sector Facility Loans to Guatemala and Nicaragua Non-reimbursable Technical Cooperation (TC) programs to Honduras and El Salvador for Trade Support to countries to prepare for US-Central American Free Trade Negotiations (CAFTA) Regional TC assisting countries in adjusting tax regimes to the impacts of trade liberalization WTO/INTAL Training Program on Trade Disciplines Trade Information System Non-reimbursable TC with SIECA - SIECA now has technical capacity to maintain FTAA Hemispheric Database Support for various projects associated with Plan Puebla Panamá. Caribbean Support to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery. RNM is designed to help Caribbean countries more effectively participate in multilateral and regional trade negotiations Project supporting the implementation of WTO Commitments Project supporting the implementation of the Community's Common External Tariff Project supporting the design of a regional investment framework TC supporting the development of a regional regime on government procurement Andean Community Trade Sector Facilities Loans to Bolivia and Peru Program for evaluating border bottlenecks to intra-Andean trade and to the development of border zones, which will lead to the creation of a database of projects which can be accessed by donors Project for harmonizing Customs Duty Deferral and Drawback regimes in the Andean region Peru-Ecuador border cooperation and integration initiatives Institutional Strengthening Technical Cooperation for the Andean Community Mercosur TC for supporting the regional integration of financial systems in the Mercosur region TC for strengthening the capacity of the Mercosur countries in the area of Unfair Trade Practices TC to support the Mercosur-EU free trade negotiations Support for various projects associated with the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America - IIRSA. ITD coordinates and collaborates closely with the Bank's Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL), based in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and collaborates with the Bank's Statistics and Quantitative Analysis Unit (INT/STA) in the maintenance of databases on trade-related statistics. The other major Bank-wide initiative is the Regional Policy Dialogue – a Bi-Annual meeting of Latin American and Caribbean Vice-Ministers of Trade at which they discuss and work through some of the most challenging trade issues facing their countries. This meeting has served as a mechanism where trade vice-ministers are brought together at the Bank to discuss various issues related to ongoing trade negotiations. The vice-ministers
drive the agenda and the Bank responds by producing policy briefs and inviting the experts to an exchange of views. Recent and future IDB Trade Meetings include:
Date & Place
IDB TRADE SEMINAR'S TITLE http://www.iadb.org/INT/Trade/1_english/4_SpecialInfo/4b_SeminarsFrame.htm
July, 2003, Washington, DC July, 2003, Guatemala July 8 - 9, 2003, Tegucigalpa,Ho
Briefing for Central American News Media on FTAA and US-CAFTA Rules of Origin Workshops for Negotiations Financial Services Workshop for Central America Establishing Consultation Mechanisms with Civil Society in Integration and trade Initiatives: A Dialogue Between the Andean Community and the European Union Workshop: Fiscal Impact of Economic Integration (Spanish Only) Meeting with Andean Community Ministers: Preparation for the Trade Negotiations MERCOSUR: Looking for a New Agenda FTAA: Impacts and Perspectives (Spanish Only) U.S.-Singapore and U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreements: Opening Markets and Advancing Regional Trade FTAA and the Future of Integration in America (Spanish only) Trans-pacific Integration Outlook: Trade Policy Choices and Implications For Korea & The Americas
July 1 - 2, 2003, Lima, Peru
June 11 -12, 2003, Buenos Aires, Arg June 11 -12, 2003, Washington, DC June 5 -6, 2003, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil May 9, 2003, Buenos Aires, Argentina
April 23-24, 2003, Washington, DC
April 21-22, 2003, Puebla, Mexico March 25 , 2003, Washington, DC
March 22 , 2003, Milan, Italy
Global & Local: Confronting The Challenges Of Regional Development In LAC
March 21 - 22 , 2003, Milan, Italy March 13, 2003, Lima, Peru January 31, 2003, Washington, DC January 6, 2003, Washington, DC
Good Practices in Social Inclusion: A dialogue between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean Workshop on fiscal Effects of Trade Liberalization - Andean Community Third Cluster Workshop: Agriculture and Agrobusiness Promises and Pitfalls of Globalization: Latin America and Asia in Comparative Perspective
For more information about IDB TCBA activities, contact: Mr. Ennio Rodriguez (ennior@iadb.org, (202) 623-1232, or Mariana (202) 623-1758 Ennio Rodriguez has undertaken economic research in Africa and in Latin America and the Caribbean, been a lecturer at the University of Costa Rica, and was Costa Rica's Minister of External Finance and Debt. He has also worked in the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Federación de Entidades Privadas de Centroamérica y Panamá (FEDEPRICAP), mostly on trade and integration issues. At the IDB he is responsible for regional programming strategy and regional technical cooperation projects for Central America. He is the Bank's Deputy Coordinator of the Plan Puebla-Panamá in conjunction with the corresponding Regional Operations Department. He entered the Bank in 1993. (Citizen of Costa Rica.). The IDB is engaged in a wide range of trade-related technical cooperation and capacity-building activities. Most of the initiatives of this type are undertaken by the Units and Divisions of the Trade and Integration Sub-Department and are summarized at: http://www.iadb.org/INT/Trade/1_english/2_WhatWeDo/6_CapacityFrame.htm
IDB Integration, Trade and Hemispheric Issues Division Contacts Nohra Rey De Marulanda, Mgr INT/INT; Dir INT/SDI 202-623-2390 Robert Devlin, Deputy Manager, x2403 Bernardo Kliksberg, Coord INT/SDI x3765 Kaname Okada, Chief INT/Japan Prog x2955 Micheal McPeak, Unit Chief, INT/STATS x2479 Peter Kalil, Div. Chief, Integr & Trade, INT/FIS/ITD, x2554, Fax 3781, Juan Manuel Corredor, Div Chf Juan José Taccone, Director, INTAL Mauricio Mesquita Moreira, Trade Economist, REDINT Tech Coord,INT/ITD Manuel Agosin – Central America Trade Specialist Marcos Jank, Trade Economist, INT/ITD, (recently returned to Sao Paulo Center for Trade Negotiation) Other IDB/INT: Staff: Alvarez, Beatriz Ando, Mitsuyo Autrique, Cecilia Badilla, Adriana Baiao, Jose Barreix, Alberto Berrios, Mario Borraz, Fernando Casanova, Ann Castro, Lucio Covarrubias, Maria de la Paz Colin, David Crawley, Andrew Cuyas, Silvia Espinasa, Ramon Estevadeordal, Antoni Fuchsloch, Ian Giordano, Paolo Granados, Jaime Kline, Reuben Lopez-Cordova, Jose Ernesto Machinea, Jose Luis Marquez, Manuel Mesquita Moreira, Mauricio Miller, Eric Monteagudo, Josefina Oncken, Akiko Quevado, Fernando Reedy, Mark Ricart, Marc Robert, Carolyn Rodriguez, MariaClaudia Rojas, Laura Rubli, Johanna Salazar, Carla San Juan, Igor Skinner, Martha Sobral de Elia, Mariana
Urbano, Asuncion Valianatos, Marita Villela, Luiz Watanuki, Masakazu Zabludovsky, Jaim