S America launches bank rival to WB, IMF
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 10 (AFP): Six South American presidents yesterday launched the Bank of the South, the region's answer to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as a source for development funds.
Presidents Nestor Kirchner, of Argentina, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, of Brazil, Nicanor Duarte, of Paraguay, Rafael Correa, of Ecuador, Evo Morales, of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez, of Venezuela, signed the bank into being.
"Motherland yes, colony no!" chanted activists, most belonging to Kirchner's leftist Peronist party, who stood behind the presidents at the signing ceremony at the Rose House, the president's office.
It was Kirchner's last official act as president before his wife, Cristina Kirchner takes over Monday. Uruguay President Tabare Vazquez was not present at the signing, but will attend Kirchner's inauguration ceremony, an Argentine official told the news agency.
Chavez and Kirchner pushed the initiative to create the regional bank in 2006, hoping it will help wean the region off what are widely seen as the negative influences of the IMF and World Bank.
"The bank will be a decisive factor in the process of independence of our peoples," Chavez said when he arrived in Buenos Aires early Sunday.
He said it was extremely important the region had its own financing sources to break its dependency on multilateral lending institutions such as the IMF.
He said the IMF was "a curse" on the region, and slammed its "shock politics that have spread hunger, misery, poverty and violence to our peoples."
Brazilian government spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said the new institution "will play a significant role in regional integration and in consolidating the Union of South American Nations."
Ecuador's Correa said that the Bank of the South will help Latin America break out of its financial chains.
The bank will start operations in 2008 with an initial capital of seven billion dollars.
After the bank was signed into being, the economy ministers of the member countries have 60 days to draw up an agreement on how the bank should be run, an Argentine official said.
The bank will be run by a board of directors made up of the economy ministers of member states.
The calendar for the Bank of the South creation was agreed to in October at an economy ministers' meeting.
Presidents Nestor Kirchner, of Argentina, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, of Brazil, Nicanor Duarte, of Paraguay, Rafael Correa, of Ecuador, Evo Morales, of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez, of Venezuela, signed the bank into being.
"Motherland yes, colony no!" chanted activists, most belonging to Kirchner's leftist Peronist party, who stood behind the presidents at the signing ceremony at the Rose House, the president's office.
It was Kirchner's last official act as president before his wife, Cristina Kirchner takes over Monday. Uruguay President Tabare Vazquez was not present at the signing, but will attend Kirchner's inauguration ceremony, an Argentine official told the news agency.
Chavez and Kirchner pushed the initiative to create the regional bank in 2006, hoping it will help wean the region off what are widely seen as the negative influences of the IMF and World Bank.
"The bank will be a decisive factor in the process of independence of our peoples," Chavez said when he arrived in Buenos Aires early Sunday.
He said it was extremely important the region had its own financing sources to break its dependency on multilateral lending institutions such as the IMF.
He said the IMF was "a curse" on the region, and slammed its "shock politics that have spread hunger, misery, poverty and violence to our peoples."
Brazilian government spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said the new institution "will play a significant role in regional integration and in consolidating the Union of South American Nations."
Ecuador's Correa said that the Bank of the South will help Latin America break out of its financial chains.
The bank will start operations in 2008 with an initial capital of seven billion dollars.
After the bank was signed into being, the economy ministers of the member countries have 60 days to draw up an agreement on how the bank should be run, an Argentine official said.
The bank will be run by a board of directors made up of the economy ministers of member states.
The calendar for the Bank of the South creation was agreed to in October at an economy ministers' meeting.