IDB - Inter-American Development Bank

Published purpose

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is the main source of multilateral funding for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. It works with partners to reduce poverty and inequality, and to achieve sustainable economic growth. Canada has been a member of the IDB since 1972 and it holds a seat on the Board of Directors. The IDB’s Regional Infrastructure Integration Fund (RIIF) is a multi-donor trust fund whose objective is to provide technical assistance to support the preparation of infrastructure projects in Latin American and the Caribbean. The Fund supports the following priority areas to facilitate both public and private infrastructure investments: (1) strengthening best practices in regional regulatory frameworks by removing regulatory bottlenecks at border crossings; (2) promoting investments that reduce the logistics costs of regional trade by investing in infrastructure corridors, ports and maritime services, and improving market structures for air cargo services; and (3) enhancing transnational regulatory frameworks for key regional markets, such as energy and telecommunications.