GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador – Three international banks says they will collaborate and cooperate more closely to generate knowledge and support public policies related to transnational organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) announced the agreement during the Regional Security Summit that ends here later on Tuesday.
The two-day event is organized by the Ecuador’s Ministry of the Interior and the IDB and is being attended by Interior and Justice ministers from 13 LAC countries.
The agreement lays out five potential domains of collaboration, namely knowledge and research production and dissemination; academic collaboration and development; policymaker and expert engagement; statistical integration and standardization; and policy support and resource mobilization.
The final domain involves exploring opportunities for collaboration and synergies to support the implementation of crime prevention policies including through platforms, networks, co-financing, and capacity development and to mobilize resources to advance efforts in combating criminal violence in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly focusing on organized crime.
“The grave security crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean has deepened as crime becomes increasingly organized and regional. This new partnership between the IDB, the World Bank and CAF will build bridges within and beyond the region to coordinate the efforts of countries, multilateral development banks and other partners to make it a safer place for everyone,” said IDB President Ilan Goldfajn.
World Bank vice president for the Latin America and the Caribbean region, Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, said violence and organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean pose serious obstacles to development.
“Addressing these critical challenges is essential to spur economic growth, eradicate poverty, and foster societies free of violence,” he said, adding “this agreement will allow the three development agencies to work with each other and with countries to find solutions that will improve lives in the region”.
CAF executive president, Sergio Díaz-Granados, said the alarming reality is that one-third of all homicides worldwide are committed in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region home to only nine percent of the global population.
“A major culprit of this surge in violence is organized transnational crime, which affects the lives of millions in our region,” said Díaz-Granados, adding “to tackle this paradigm shift in crime, we need to understand it better.
“We are confident that this multilateral agreement between the World Bank, the IDB, and CAF will yield the comprehensive insight into this issue. One thing is certain: without security in our countries, there can be no sustainable development.”
The three financial institutions say they plan to create a roadmap to chart their progress towards the objectives of the agreement.
