Source:
IFIs Latin American Monitor
Wed Aug 29 2007
In this last stage, the members of Rede Brazil pointed to the need of monitoring the activities of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), taking into account that is has turned into an institution that shows a high pace of increase in terms of financing capacity as well as a growing influence on the economic and social policies both of Brazil and the region. In line with this new goal, Rede Brazil submitted a document to the president of BNDES including proposals for the application of social and environmental criteria in the Bank’s operations.
The 7th Meeting of Rede Brazil on Multilateral Financial Institutions was held from August 8-10 in Brasilia. The meeting was attended by more than fifty people, among them, members of Rede Brazil, NGOs, national and regional social movements (Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay), and also members of parliament.
The journey made by Rede Brazil from 1995 until today has been marked by the debate on national, regional and global issues with respect to multilateral financial institutions and its activity has been intense both in terms of reflection and action.
On this occasion, activities during the meeting were split into two different stages. First, participants focused the political debate on the international financial situation, the Southern Bank initiative, financing for development and regional integration. Meanwhile, a second stage comprised an evaluation of the work carried out by Rede Brazil in the past two years as well as a definition of the lines of action to be taken in the next two years.
In this last stage, the members of Rede Brazil pointed to the need of monitoring the activities of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), taking into account that is has turned into an institution that shows a high pace of increase in terms of financing capacity as well as a growing influence on the economic and social policies both of Brazil and the region. Its role as financier of the Brazilian economic activity is nowadays superior to that of the World Bank. However, BNDES remains behind in terms of transparency and civil society participation when compared to the World Bank and IDB, which strengthens the importance of progress to be made in this respect.
In line with this new goal, Rede Brazil produced a document (BNDES Platform, in Portuguese) including proposals for the application of social and environmental criteria in the Bank’s operations. The document, signed by 27 organisations and movements belonging to the network, calls for the modification of criteria in order to support energy, infrastructure and industrial projects that may have an impact on the population. Rede Brazil submitted this document to the president of BNDES, Luciano Coutinho, last July 9 and exactly one month later the president himself took part in an activity during the network’s meeting.
The results of both meetings were positively analysed by participants in the event, highlighting the symbolic importance of Coutinho’s words and actions. The president promised to give greater transparency to the Bank’s activities and include civil society representatives in the current stage of strategic planning that is being carried out by the institution. A Bank’s counterpart will act as link between the management and civil society organisations, which will analyse during the process whether their demands are being effectively heard or not.
Related Information:
* Rede Brasil elege nova coordenação e traça novas prioridades e estratégias (in Portuguese language)
* A Platform for BNDES, by Carlos Tautz (IBASE)
|
