IDB urges stronger ties between Asia, Latin America

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) wrapped up its annual meeting here yesterday with calls to boost economic ties between Asia and Latin America, regions increasingly linked by China's soaring growth and demand for raw materials.

Latin America's main multilateral lending agency welcomed South Korea, Asia's third-largest economy, as the IDB's 47th member and only the second Asian nation after Japan, at the gathering.

"The meeting has brought many contributions and it marks a milestone for the bank," IDB president Enrique Iglesias told a news conference after the three-day meeting on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

Japan's finance minister, Isamu Ueda, who chaired the closing sessions, said: "As globalization continues, increasing inter-dependence between Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia was the main topic.

"The meeting has helped the two regions understand each other better and set the stage for new partnership," he said.

A major focus was on Asia's new economic powerhouse, China, which is seeking alternative sources of oil and commodities in Latin America to meet its fast-growing needs while looking for new markets for its manufactured goods.

Beijing to join the IDB soon but Washington says China must first repay debts owed to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, just as Seoul did.

Except technical problems, "China is a country all the [IDB] members want to see join," Iglesias said.

Japan 1976 became the first Asian country in the IDB and it provides 5 percent of the bank's capital.

The IDB meeting took place amid growing fears of skyrocketing energy costs, the topic some members said they would raise at the meetings of the Group of Seven rich nations and the International Monetary Fund later this week.

Oil-rich Venezuela has benefited from the surging petroleum prices, posting 17.3 percent economic growth last year after two years of contraction in the aftermath of political strife.