Central American Bank for Economic Integration

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) was founded in 1960. It is an international institution aimed at promoting integration and development among its founding countries: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It has currently two headquarters, one in Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and another one in San Salvador (El Salvador). Besides it has national offices in every country of Central America.

On December 13, 1960, what is today known as Central American economic integration materializes and begins. This year the General Treaty on Central America Economic Integration was signed. The creation of CABEI was a result of this Treaty.

Mission

CABEI is a multilateral development bank (MDB) whose mission[1] is promoting economic integration and balanced social and economic development of Central American countries, which include founding and non-founding countries.

Vision

CABEI's vision[1] consists of being the strategic partner for providing financial solutions that contribute to the creation of employment and to the improvement of the well-being of the people inhabiting Central America.

Members

  • Founding countries: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. These countries signed the Founding Covenant which establishes the CABEI, in the decision frame adopted by their Governments to promote regional economic integration.
  • Non-founding regional countries: Panama and Dominican Republic, which take part in the Central American Integration System (SICA in its Spanish initials) and are represented before CABEI's Board of Directors and Governors' Assembly.
  • Non-regional countries: Mexico, Taiwan, Argentina, Colombia and Spain. They have deemed important to join CABEI with the aim of having a permanent regional presence, thus enlarging their international projection through supporting founding countries' development. They also have named representatives before CABEI's Board of Directors and Governors' Assembly.
  • Beneficiary countries: Belize.[2] It has joined the CABEI to receive loans and guarantees, same as regional countries, but, unlike them, Belize has not bought shares of the institution.

Apart from regional countries, Argentina and Colombia enjoy the capacity of receiving CABEI's loans and guarantees.

Functions

CABEI is the development bank for Central America, its strategic partner and the main purveyor of resources: by late 2009, it had approved[3] $14,603.3 millon since its inception for the development of the region

As a regional financing institution, CABEI supports both public and private sectors and specializes in raising and channeling external money to promote investment in its action areas, which are:

  • Energy and production infrastructure
  • Agriculture and rural development
  • Human development and social infrastructure
  • Industry, urban development and services for competitiveness
  • Financial trading and development finance

Structure

CABEI's maximum authority is the Governors' Assembly, integrated by Ministers of Economy and central bank Governors of member countries.

Besides, CABEI's Founding Covenant includes other authorities: Directory, as the organ responsible for the Bank's direction; President, elected by the Governors' Assembly; Vice president, elected by the Directory; and other officials deemed necessary for the institution's correct functioning.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 CABEI. "Institutional Information". Central American Bank for Economic Integration. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  2. CABEI. "Belize". Central American Bank for Economic Integration. CABEI. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  3. Rodas-Martini, Pablo; et al. (December 2010). Contribución del BCIE al Desarrollo de Centroamérica: 50 Años de Historia (PDF). Tegucigalpa, Honduras: CABEI. p. 20. ISBN 978-99926-665-6-2. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
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