CAF will invest $10 billion over the next five years to promote integration in Latin America and the Caribbean

At the International Forum on Regional Integration, Sergio Díaz-Granados, CEO of CAF—the development bank for Latin America and the Caribbean—announced an investment of USD 10 billion through 2031 to finance regional integration projects. The funds will be allocated to strategic areas such as physical and digital infrastructure, intraregional trade,energy , tourism, innovation, logistics, and mobility.

Díaz-Granados emphasized that integration is “an imperative for the development, competitiveness, and global positioning of Latin America and the Caribbean.” In a context marked by geopolitical tensions, trade fragmentation, financial turbulence, and a new normal of uncertainty, the countries of the region must commit to regional integration to influence major global value chains, the energy transition, food security, and the world’s new productive architecture.

The announcement comes after decades of progress. CAF’s first infrastructure project was the bridge over the Limón River, which connected Colombia with Venezuela, and over the past 30 years, the institution has approved 118 credit operations totaling USD 16.73 billion for integration initiatives. More specifically, over the past five years, CAF has deepened its vision toward physical, productive, digital, energy, and ecosystemic integration.

Examples of this include support for the Brasilia Consensus in 2023, the “Routes of Integration” initiative alongside the IDB, BNDES, and FONPLATA to mobilize an additional USD 10 billion, and the creation of the “Latin America and the Caribbean Region Brand,” which projects a shared narrative of solutions, talent, and biodiversity to the world.

Díaz-Granados also emphasized that the region is not starting from scratch. Among the advances, he mentioned the significant reduction in tariffs since the 1990s, the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, which brings together 770 million people, the development of regional electricity markets in Central America, the expansion of submarine cables such as the Humboldt and the Firmina, and the recovery of tourism and intraregional air connectivity to levels above pre-pandemic levels.

“Regional integration has already made progress, but now it must enter a more ambitious implementation phase. Fewer barriers, more infrastructure. Fewer assessments and more projects,” Díaz-Granados concluded.