Colombian former diplomat Luis Alberto Moreno was elected to a second five-year term as president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) by the bank’s board of governors, reports Portfolio.
“Today the board of governors had the honor of re-electing Luis Alberto Moreno for another five years,” said Mexico’s finance minister, Ernesto Cordero, who stressed the “outstanding management” and remarkable achievements” of Moreno’s first term.
The former Colombian ambassador to the U.S. was praised in the last annual IDB meeting in Cancun, Mexico, for increasing the bank’s capital by $70 billion.
With a total capital of $170 billion, the IDB is now the largest regional development bank in the world.
Luis Guillermo Echeverri, executive director for Colombia and Peru at the IDB, said that Moreno’s re-election “is a vote of confidence in successful management, a manifestation of consensus on the agenda that Moreno has presented for years, and is a diplomatic triumph for Colombia.”
Under Moreno’s leadership, the IDB has earmarked more funds to address climate change, fight poverty and encourage infrastructure projects.
Finance ministers from the bank’s 48 member countries make up the board of governors, which is responsible for electing the bank’s president.
