THE CENTRAL AMERICAN BANK FOR ECONOMIC INTEGRATION (CABEI) HAS BECOME A STRATEGIC PART IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRIES OF THE AREA. AMONG ITS PRIORITIES IS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE REGIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT NETWORK.
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) is a multilateral development financial institution that promotes economic integration and a balanced social development in its area of operation.
The members of CABEI are its founding countries (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica), the non-founding regional countries (Panama, Dominican Republic and Belize) and the extra regional countries (Mexico, Taiwan, Argentina, Colombia, Spain, Cuba and Korea).
To facilitate this regional development as much as possible, it provides the public and private sector with different forms of financial aid and financial instruments. Among them, direct funding and co-funding, facilitating the creation of intermediary institutions, cooperation, structured and syndicated loans, etc.
In addition, it establishes institutional alliances to generate synergies. This generates joined efforts into the implementation of regional programmes and projects, strengthens relationships and accelerates the achievement of the SDGs.
In this cooperation stands out the joint work and participation in the Central American Integration System, the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), the Inter-Agency Technical Group of the Mesoamerica Integration and Development Project (MP), the United Nations, or the Organization of American States.
60 years of work
After 60 years of action, “CABEI’s 2020-2024 Institutional Strategy” was recently published. This document outlines the most relevant initiatives that have been carried out in different areas.
In the area of transport, for example, it is worth highlighting projects such as the Electric Passenger Train of the Greater Metropolitan Area in Costa Rica or the funding of the feasibility study to implement the freight train project in Honduras. This strategy also highlights the global economic and geopolitical context it faces and its own institutional challenges which demand reforms. It is the guide that will be followed to accompany Central American countries in their efforts to achieve new stages of economic development and better opportunities for well-being.
In addition, it encourages the international community to appreciate its possibilities for action in the region, and the added value that the Bank represents in that effort by accompanying other multilateral institutions and organizations of diverse nature.
Environmental and social sustainability is one of the core elements in the medium term, hence the importance that emissions-free mobility projects, the promotion of systems such as the railway and the modernization of collective transport with the promotion of electricity units will have in order to reduce fuel consumption.
“CABEI’s 2020-2024 Institutional Strategy” is the guide that this institution will continue in the coming years to contribute to social improvement.
CABEI’s collaboration agreement with Mafex to cooperate in new railway projects
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) is currently working on the development of a comprehensive regional railway transport network.
The aim is to promote the economic growth of a low-carbon emission transport network in the region. To this end, a collaboration agreement with Mafex in the field of railway transport has recently been signed. It is a matter of establishing new ways of promoting the transfer of knowledge from the Spanish railway sector, which is very broad in this field, and to provide advice for the implementation of actions that promote a sustainable project and technological transformation in the region.
This agreement wants to highlight the opportunity that sustainable mobility represents for economic recovery after the pandemic and to achieve the SDGs of the United Nations.