Guyana’s VP attends meeting to elect new IDB President

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo on Saturday participated virtually in the Special Meeting of the Board of Governors to elect a new President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

On August 4, 2020, Guyana announced its support for the United States (US) candidate, Mauricio Claver-Carone.
In his capacity as Guyana’s Governor of the IDB, Jagdeo addressed the meeting and stressed the need for the new President to tackle support for small states in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Further, the Vice President addressed the challenges posed by COVID-19 in the region, particularly for Caribbean countries, including dealing with overburdened health systems, loss of economic output, revenue and employment. He indicated that many countries in the region have had to redirect resources, from fiscally stressed budgets, for tackling the challenges caused by the pandemic to the servicing of onerous debts.
Jagdeo urged recognition of the peculiar circumstances of small states in the region, including the fact that some of these countries have graduated out of concessional financing. As such, he called on the Bank to ensure that creative tools and packages be crafted to address the needs of these small states.
At the meeting, Mauricio Claver-Carone was elected President of the IDB – the first US candidate to ever hold the post.
Claver-Carone, a Cuban-American, will officially take office on October 1, 2020, for a five-year term. As President, he will oversee the operations of the IDB Group, which comprises the IDB, IDB Invest and IDB Lab. Claver-Carone is currently Deputy Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the US National Security Council. He previously served as US Representative to the International Monetary Fund and as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs at the US Department of the Treasury.
To be elected President, a candidate must receive a majority of the total voting power of the IDB’s member countries as well as the support of at least 15 of the 28 regional member countries (26 borrowing member countries, plus Canada and the United States). The IDB has a total of 48 member countries, with Headquarters in Washington, DC, and offices in all borrowing countries as well as in Europe and Asia.
Mauricio J Claver-Carone will be the IDB’s fifth President. He follows Luis Alberto Moreno (2005-2020); Enrique V Iglesias (1988-2005); Antonio Ortiz Mena (1971-1988); and Felipe Herrera (1960-1971).