IDB meeting calls for greater ties between Asia and Latin America
IDB meeting calls for greater ties between Asia and Latin America
Agence France-Presse, Ginowan, Japan
The Inter-American Development Bank wrapped up its annual meeting here on Tuesday with calls to boost economic ties between Asia and Latin America, regions increasingly linked by China's soaring growth and demand for raw materials.
Latin America's main multilateral lending agency welcomed South Korea, Asia's third-largest economy, as the IDB's 47th member and only the second Asian nation after Japan, at the gathering.
"The meeting has brought many contributions and it marks a milestone for the bank," IDB president Enrique Iglesias told a news conference after the three-day meeting on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
Deputy Japanese Finance Minister Isamu Ueda, who chaired the closing sessions, said: "As globalization continues, increasing inter-dependence between Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia was the main topic.
"The meeting has helped the two regions understand each other better and set the stage for new partnership," he said.
A major focus was on Asia's new economic powerhouse, China, which is seeking alternative sources of oil and commodities in Latin America to meet its fast-growing needs while looking for new markets for its manufactured goods.
Beijing wishes to join the IDB soon but Washington is reluctant, saying China must first repay debts owed to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, just as Seoul did.
Except for technical problems, "China is a country all the (IDB) members want to see join," Iglesias said.
Japan in 1976 became the first Asian country in the IDB and it provides five percent of the bank's capital.
Previous IDB meetings have all been in the Western Hemisphere or Europe except for one in the central Japan city of Nagoya in 1991.
South Korea's entry boosted to a total of US$502 million the cash in the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund, which was set up in 1993 to reduce poverty and develop the private-sector in Latin America.
Seoul contributed $50 million to the fund. The United States has provided $150 million, the largest share, while Japan and Spain pitched in $70 million each.