Bank chief seeking a bigger role for Americas

Luis Alberto Moreno, IDB president [For China Daily]

Latin America and the Caribbean may not be the first areas that come to mind when you think of the Silk Road.

Yet, the chief of the Inter-American Development Bank said he wants to know how the region, which the IDB serves, can be better integrated into the Belt and Road Initiative.

As Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the IDB, prepared Wednesday to leave Washington for the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which is in Beijing on Sunday and Monday, he said he hoped to get some answers.

Moreno said he wants to ramp up his bank's cooperation with China, which has become an influential provider of financing in the region.

"It's very important for us to see how this hemisphere, which is so significant, can be connected to that initiative, and in which ways cooperation is possible," Moreno told China Daily.

"That's what I look forward to exploring, and to seeing what comes out of this forum."

Moreno has been invited to speak at a plenary session of the forum and will also participate in a side event that focuses on financing.

"I'm very interested in seeing what President Xi Jinping and Chinese officials look to accomplish with this kind of initiative," Moreno said.

The former Colombian ambassador to the United States said he believes the initiative is not only about physically connecting the trade routes that exist, but more importantly connecting people and the financial dimensions that trade and globalization require.

Moreno said his bank needs to double investment in infrastructure. In 2016, the IDB approved $9.3 billion in lending, 40 percent of which went to infrastructure and the environment, while 24 percent was used for health and social investment, according to the bank's 2016 Annual Report.

"We have seen for a number of years already how the enormous impact of the Chinese demand for some of our commodities has helped countries lift many people out of poverty," Moreno said.

He said the bank hopes to deepen its ties with China. China joined the IDB in 2009, and has been a key provider of finance for infrastructure and development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Chinese companies have been interested in doing roads and ports," he said, adding the IDB has set up a platform for Chinese investment to encourage commercial linkages as well as knowledge sharing between China and Latin America and the Caribbean.

"But beyond that, there are huge possibilities," he said. "We're in a phase where we have to begin to diversify our own trade with China."

The IDB and People's Bank of China also launched a joint green finance program in March, focusing on green bonds, green credit line regulations and environmental and social risk management systems for financial institutions.