Tag Archive for: Chinese Investments

After a year of meetings and activities, between November 30 and December 1, the G20 Summit was held in the City of Buenos Aires, the first held in South America. It counted with the presence of the main world leaders; and although it was considered a logistical success by the national government, it did not produce great results in multilateral terms.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The G-20 leaders summit organized this year by Argentina as president “pro tempore” of the forum took place in a context marked mainly by the trade war between the United States and China; and the internal difficulties that a large part of the leaders of the countries that make up the group are facing. Among them, undoubtedly highlight the civil protests that check the government of Emmanuel Macron in France, the accusations against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for the death of a journalist; and even the economic crisis facing the national government in Argentina, to which were added also the internal and external doubts regarding the capacity of the government of Mauricio Macri to organize an event of the magnitude of the G-20.

In any case, once the summit was concluded, the organization of the summit was considered a success by the government, and a final document was even signed (although its commitments are very lukewarm) despite the few probabilities that existed of achieving a consensus among member countries. The Declaration of the G20 2018 leaders emphasizes equitable and sustainable development as a challenge that all States face. Among the issues mentioned in the Declaration are the pillars on which the summit worked on a priority basis this year, at the decision of the Argentine government itself, namely: the Future of Work, Infrastructure for Development, Food Security and a perspective gender mainstreaming that covered the entire G20 agenda. The Declaration also mentions in certain passages certain international commitments regarding Climate Change and the Paris Agreement (although the United States expressed in the Declaration its decision to withdraw from the Agreement); international financial institutions and the need to strengthen the IMF and the World Bank; gender equality and access to health, among others. Regarding Infrastructure, the Declaration states: “In order to address the persistent infrastructure financing gap, we reaffirm our commitment to attract private capital for investment in infrastructure. To achieve this, we endorsed the Roadmap to Infrastructure As an Asset Class “

Recall that the G20 is an international forum that is composed of 19 states and the European Union: Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, the United States, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan , Mexico, Russia, United Kingdom, South Africa and Turkey. Spain is a permanent guest. In addition, the country that chairs the forum elects other guests, and for this year Argentina invited Chile and the Netherlands.

The work areas of the G-20 are: finance, agriculture, anticorruption, trade and investment, development, digital economy, education, employment, health, climate sustainability and energy transitions.

Although the Summit in Buenos Aires did not produce resonant agreements at the multilateral level, the event was without doubt positive for the national government, which comes out strengthened by the organization without major inconveniences of the event; and above all, by the agenda of meetings and bilateral agreements with other nations that took place in the framework of the Summit. Thus, the government of Cambiemos managed several bilateral meetings and closed a series of investment and commercial agreements with the purpose of promoting the country’s economic development. Thus, of the 17 bilateral meetings that the government carried out and the more than 50 agreements signed, the following stand out:

  • 30 commercial agreements between China and Argentina that represent around 5000 million dollars. The Joint Action Plan signed covers issues related to investments, infrastructure, railways, thermal energy, solar, wind, mining, health, transportation and education, among others. They include the commercial contract to reactivate the San Martín Cargas railroad, whose initial investment will be 1089 million dollars and will be in charge of the Chinese company CRCC (China Railway Construction Corporation Limited); and the signing of protocols for the entry of standing equines, sheep and goats from Patagonia to China and a sanitary protocol to export Argentine cherries.

  • In turn, with China, investment agreements were also signed for projects of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the area of ​​energy and transport (routes); and it was agreed to expand the swap (exchange) of currencies in the amount of 60 billion yuan (equivalent to 8,600 million dollars) that will be used to strengthen the reserves of the Central Bank.

  • With the United States, the most relevant agreement was reached with the letters of intent signed with the investment agency of the United States, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which is expected to mobilize more than 3 billion dollars. Some of these letters of intent with the OPIC contemplate the financial backing for the PPP project of the C Corridor section (Buenos Aires-Mendoza); and projects on solar energy (the Ullum I, II and III projects); wind energy (North Chubut III and IV); wind energy (Cañadón León wind farm in Santa Cruz); and works for a gas pipeline in Vaca Muerta.

  • With France, a financing agreement for 360 million dollars was made to recover the capacity of maritime naval patrols, and agreements in the cultural and educational field.

  • With the European Investment Bank, it was agreed to finance expansion and improvement works in potable water services for the metropolitan area and the suburbs of Buenos Aires; and the consolidation of the Integral Management of Residues and Energy Valorization in Jujuy.

  • The Heads of State of Japan and Argentina signed a Bilateral Investment Treaty between both countries, which aims to encourage Japanese investments in various sectors of the Argentine economy.
  • With the Russian Federation, a Fisheries and Aquaculture Agreement and a strategic document on the cooperation between Argentina and Russia in the field of the peaceful use of nuclear energy were signed.

Beyond the Summit

It is worth remembering that the Summit held in Buenos Aires was just the end of a much more extensive process that began at the end of November 2017 when Argentina assumed the “pro tempore” presidency of the G-20 at the end of November 2017 and culminated with the transfer of it to Japan. During the course of this year numerous meetings and events were held within the framework of the G20, as well as intense work in each of the affinity groups of the forum: Business 20 (B20, which encompasses the private sector); Civil 20 (C20, which includes civil society); Labor 20 (L20, which includes unions and workers); Science 20 (S20, which encompasses the scientific community) Think 20 (T20, which includes Think Tanks and the academic community); Women 20 (W20, which includes women) and Youth 20 (Y-20, which includes young people).

In the case of FUNDEPS, we actively participate in Civil 20, where we co-coordinate, together with Eurodad, one of the 8 working groups of the C20 for this year: the Investment and Infrastructure group. During the course of the year the group worked virtually and even met twice, both for the meeting of working groups and for the Summit of the C-20 held in Buenos Aires in April and August respectively. The result of the work of the working groups of the C20 was reflected in a document with policy recommendations, which was delivered to President Macri during the C20 Summit and constituted an input from civil society for the discussions that took place in the frame of the G-20.

More information

Declaración de Líderes del G20. Construyendo consenso para un desarrollo equitativo y sostenible

Página oficial del G-20

Página Oficial del C20

Policy Pack: Recomendaciones del C20 al G20 de 2018

Documento del sub-grupo sobre Financiamiento de Infraestructura

Documento del sub-grupo sobre Conducta Empresarial Responsable

La sociedad civil presenta recomendaciones al G20 en la Cumbre del Civil-20 – FUNDEPS – 15/08/2018

La sociedad civil se reunió en el C20 – FUNDEPS – 17/04/2018

G20 dejó acuerdos con intención de inversiones por u$s 8.000 millones – ámbito.com

Expectativa y realidad de los acuerdos económicos de Argentina en el G20 – Noticias

Authors

Macarena Mustafá – Sofía Brocanelli

Contact

Gonzalo Roza / Coordinador del Área de Gobernabilidad Global
gon.roza@fundeps.org

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

Currently, the Latin American region has witnessed a resounding change in the area of ​​large investments for development. Traditionally, international financial institutions (IFIs) played a fundamental role in supporting development projects in the region. The World Bank Group and the Inter-American Development Bank Group were behind the large investments in the infrastructure area.

This situation has been modified by the increase in the presence of the People’s Republic of China as the main investor in this matter. In this regard, it is necessary to highlight that this situation has brought about a strong discussion regarding social and environmental standards. Traditional IFIs have regulations that, while far from functioning properly in practice, minimally seek to ensure compliance with certain environmental, social and human rights standards in their projects. In the case of Chinese institutions, on the contrary, the situation is more complex, since in most cases these institutions lack transparency or clear and robust regulations in socio-environmental matters.

The consequence of the coexistence of these two groups of institutions – the traditional IFIs and the Chinese ones – has given a negative balance and this has been evidenced in the retreat of the safeguards in organisms such as the World Bank. In this sense, the current financing structure in Latin America has seen its standards fall, generating serious situations of violation of rights when launching large infrastructure projects. During 2016, 200 environmental defenders lost their lives claiming their rights before the advance of major oil and mining projects. 60% of those deaths occurred in Latin America and 40% belonged to indigenous peoples.

From this framework, the Regional Coalition for Transparency and Participation, brought together a group of civil society organizations with the aim of influencing the improvement of socio-environmental standards in infrastructure megaprojects. At the Fourth Regional Meeting on Human Rights, Transparency and Investments, held in Lima on August 30 and 31, the organizations gathered spoke for the urgent need to ensure the rights of environmental defenders. Likewise, the growing cases of corruption around the megaprojects and the lack of access to public information were highlighted.

The statement after the meeting noted that: “several governments have been addressing the right of access to public information as a mere administrative procedure, without taking into account that it is an instrumental human right to other fundamental rights, such as the right to life, to health, to freedom of expression, which contributes to the adequate and timely citizen participation and free and informed prior consultation. In this line, it is worrying that several international initiatives on transparency and access to information can not continue to advance adequately because there is a risk that we seek to lower the standards, as in the case of the Regional Agreement of Principle 10.” The large infrastructure projects then, today remain the scenario for the problematization of issues such as transparency and accountability.

Several governments in Latin America have joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and have therefore committed to implementing policies that promote transparency, access to information, accountability and participation. citizen This necessarily implies that these efforts to ‘open the State’ must expand to the environmental and infrastructure branch. Currently this is a pending debt and of the 3000 commitments assumed before OGP, only 54 belong to the field of infrastructure. Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay are the Latin American and Caribbean nations that have elaborated goals in relation to this matter. However, the problems persist and the situation of human rights around the megaprojects has been getting worse. In addition, after the Fourth Meeting of the Regional Coalition, it was highlighted that “it is important that the processes for the elaboration of the Work Plans of the Alliance for Open Government of the countries be truly participatory and with ambitious, measurable and relevant “. This is especially important when it comes to achieving the involvement and monitoring of society in public works processes (throughout the project cycle).

In Argentina this reality is replicated. Currently, large infrastructure projects are being developed that have been involved in corruption cases and whose information was not shared with citizens. We can mention among them: the hydroelectric dams in the Province of Santa Cruz and the trunk gas pipelines in the province of Córdoba.

The generalized situation of human rights around infrastructure megaprojects is alarming. There continue to be numerous cases in which nearby communities are harmed by this type of work. Added to this, the killing of environmental defenders has worsened in the last two years. In this context, we adhere to the Lima Declaration and urge Latin American governments to move towards more transparent policies on this issue.

More information

– Declaration of Lima

Author

Agustina Palencia, agustinapalencia@fundeps.org

Contact

Gonzalo Roza gon.roza@fundeps.org

Representatives of civil society and native communities participated in the workshop in the city of Bogotá (Colombia). The result was the elaboration of an agenda that complements the territorial demands of the affected communities with the proposals raised from civil society and the academy.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

On May 17 and 18, the workshop was organized by the Regional Group on Financing and Infrastructure and the Regional Coalition for Transparency and Participation. The workshop sought to strengthen the joint action of civil society (communities, movements and social organizations, national and local) that are being affected by projects financed by Chinese banking and what monitor the social and environmental impacts of these investments in Latin America.

Topics related to the social and environmental policies currently implemented by Chinese institutions, the analysis of Chinese funding in the region, the projects to which it is intended and the identification of the impacts of these projects on the environment and human rights were addressed. We attended civil society representatives from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and representatives of native and peasant communities.

We emphasize the alarming situation of environmental defenders in Chinese investment contexts in countries of the region, who are not only criminalized for the defense of their collective rights but also lack the protection of the State . We succeeded in strengthening the Continental Alliance to follow up on Chinese investments to face the geopolitical strategy that seeks to maintain the constant export model of raw materials in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Those of us participating in the workshop agree that weakening the environmental and social frameworks of the region does not guarantee respect for the rights of the communities involved in the area of ​​influence of the projects that are financed by Chinese banks. Added to this is the non-binding nature of the Chinese banking guidelines. The non-existence of protection at the national level and at the level of multilateral banking puts the communities that are being affected by the investment at risk.

As a result of the Workshop, an advocacy agenda was drawn up that brings together and complements the territorial demands of the affected communities with the reform proposals put forward by civil society and academia. In this regard, at the international level, new standards for companies and Chinese banking are proposed that guarantee compliance, greater participation and effective consultation processes; At the national level, a joint strategy that will reverse the weakening of socio-environmental legislation and provide guarantees of equitable access to justice for environmental defenders.

More information

Contact

María Victoria Gerbaldo, victoriagerbaldo@fundeps.org

The largest infrastructure project in the province of Cordoba has Chinese funding. Two Chinese banks: ICBC and Bank of China will finance 80% of the 8,400 million pesos of the trunk gas pipeline work in the province.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.”

The map of the ten trunk duct systems had been divided into three groups. The first one assigned to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. The second to the construction company China Communications Construction Company and the Argentine construction company Iecsa S.A. And the third to the construction company China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau and the Argentine company Electroingeniería S.A.

One of the formalities that the province had to fulfill was to have the guarantees of the national government to access external financing and, at the same time, guarantee that debt with funds from the federal co-participation.

The works began on August 14 of this year by the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. This was the only company awarded that presented own financing for the work and does not depend on loans from Chinese banks.

In the month of October, the province placed a debt for 150 million dollars to 10 years of term.

And now in December the Chinese investments were confirmed. The gas pipelines in the provincial interior that will be financed by loans from the two Chinese banks were awarded to the transitory union of companies that formed the Cordobesa Electroingeniería, the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau and the port of Iecsa, in partnership with the Asian China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). In charge of the negotiation with the Chinese banks is the Minister of Investment and Financing Ricardo Sosa.

From FUNDEPS we are monitoring this project, we have met with officials of the Córdoba Agency for Investment and Financing (ACIF), and we have submitted requests for information to provincial and national ministries. The terms of the legislation that regulates access to knowledge of State acts have expired and there is still no response from the corresponding units.

The questions generated by a work of this magnitude are several. No details have been given of the agreements reached with Chinese banks, it has not been established how this project will effectively reach each of the municipalities involved, nor are the environmental impact reports known. From FUNDEPS, it will be sought that these infrastructure projects do not negatively impact the living conditions of the communities or the environment.

More information

Gas pipelines: Schiaretti reviewed with Prat Gay the progress of contracts with Chinese companies

Gas pipelines: the Nation signs guarantees for Chinese credits

Contact

Gonzalo Roza / Coordinator of the Global Governance Area

gon.roza@fundeps.org

 

Within the long list of Chinese investments in Argentina, the case of aqueducts in the province of Entre Ríos has been one of the most controversial. Irregularities in the bidding process, approval and execution of the project have aroused the suspicion and the demands of various sectors of civil society.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.”

 

In a changing international context, in which the most important actors have been changing, Argentina has encountered difficulties in accessing traditional sources of financing. Over the last few years, especially since the Kirchner administration, the scenario of foreign investment in Argentina has been marked by the preponderance of the PRC. Several of the major infrastructure projects that are being carried out are behind the backing of Asian companies.

There are two projects that have been working between the Nation and the province of Entre Ríos for some years and had to do with the possibility of building two aqueducts for irrigation in the north of Entre Ríos. For the construction of these, the provincial government and the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) signed a commitment letter for the supply of fresh water, incorporating 200,000 hectares of irrigation.

In mid-June 2013 the CSCEC expressed its interest in investing in infrastructure works in the province of Entre Ríos. During a meeting with representatives of the company, developed at the House of Entre Ríos in Buenos Aires, Governor Sergio Urribarri “proposed three basic lines of action: irrigation works, Paraná-Santa Fe metropolitan link and port development.” According to the governor, the development of the works would be linked to a great extent to increase the productive capacity of the province.

The agreement with China for the construction of the two aqueducts was signed on July 18, 2014. Within the framework of strategic agreements for infrastructure works, signed in the Casa Rosada between Xi Jinping and Cristina Fernadez de Kirchner, meeting in which Urribarri participated.

The aqueducts will have a total length of 546 kilometers between main branch and secondary branches. Two works, the first in the Arroyo Mandisoví basin in the Federation department to implement a collective irrigation system, from the Uruguay River, for rice, citrus and fruit-horticultural production. The second in the department of La Paz to build an aqueduct of the North Entre Ríos, with the contribution of water from the Paraná River and provide a marginal area of ​​access to water for irrigation.

The costs of the works total an amount close to USD 98,000,000, according to the data presented by the “Provincial Agricultural Services Program” in its feasibility reports of which the province should contribute 20%. However, the budget of the CSCEC was USD 430,387,552 awarded without competitive bidding. Funding would come from ICBC, with a credit of USD 366 million at 15 years (with a grace period of 5) with a LIBOR rate of 4.5%. Likewise, the credit agreement provides as applicable law the same as that of England.

The project provoked rejections in some sectors, such as the organizations nucleated within the Multisectoral in Defense of the Heritage of the Entrerrianos, which promoted the nullity of the law that, among other points, enabled the direct granting, without public bidding, of the work to A Chinese capital company, as well as a debt exceeding $ 430 million. The M’biguá Foundation and Environmental Justice also warned about the lack of transparency and information about the project.

The case of aqueducts is the first to reach justice. As discussed above, the Multisectoral for the Defense of the Patrimony of the Entrerrianos presented an unconstitutionality action with respect to the law No. 10.352 that authorized the Provincial Executive to become indebted to the financial institution of China. This action is based on the fact that this law has not fulfilled the formal requirements that the provincial constitution urges for its approval, for example: there was no Environmental Impact Assessment, there is no opinion from the commissions of Finance and Economy, or the prosecution Of state, among other irregularities. The total lack of controls in the legislative process, the treatment on tables of the norm, the absence of debate on the subject and, especially, the secrecy with which the government was managed not to make known the project, is another aspect Demand.

Among the main points of the complete demand are:

– Ineffectiveness of Law 10.352 for irregularities in its processing.

– Non-observance of the principle of reasonableness.

Authorization to the Governor to agree and keep secret the contract with the Chinese Bank.

– Authorization to the Governor to contract with the Chinese Bank ICBC a loan in which Entre Ríos accepts to be governed by the English legislation.

– Violation of the constitutional duty to publicize acts of government.

– Deprivation of information as a human right.

– The previous and precautionary implementation of Environmental Impact Studies and its evaluation processes with the due Public Hearings and the dictating of the Administrative Acts prior to the authorization of contracting of the work and the authorization of the conclusion of investment agreements and / Or indebtedness.

– Violation of the Public Accounting Law. (Arrogating thus the P.E. unconstitutionally own powers of the Legislative Power).

– Violation of the Public Works Law.

– The constitutional guarantees contained in Section II – Economic, Labor and Sustainable Development of the Provincial Constitution were ignored.

According to local media: “From a commission of five million dollars that the provincial state must pay for the operation, up to the costs not calculated of interest, expropriation of land for the work and other costs, contemplating also the implementation of increases Tributary to cover the payment of the credit, the economic questions to the norm are numerous. The first of these, in any case, is the amount of the credit: nobody understands very well how the entrerriano government arrived to calculate both works by more than 430 million dollars when Prosap had budgeted, some months before, less than 100 million” .

According to Jorge Daneri, a member of the M’biguá Foundation, a package of potential mega investments in the region is being formed which, in addition to the aqueducts, would include a hydroelectric dam project between the provinces of Corrientes and Santa Fe on the northern border Of Entre Ríos. According to Dr. Daneri, the mechanism is the same in all projects: there is no parliamentary debate on the projects, let alone in the provinces involved, therefore, the silence of federalism of social consultation and citizen consultation.

From FUNDEPS we have been working on the follow-up of the case of trunk gas pipelines in the province of Cordoba, which also have Chinese funding. Part of the process of approval and execution of this project, can be identified with what happened in Entre Ríos. The lack of transparency in certain issues such as the presentation and publication of the environmental impact study, sound an alarm with respect to environmental standards and DD.HH.

In addition, we consider it of special importance to highlight that the recent importance of the People’s Republic of China in terms of investments in infrastructure projects translates into a need for civil society to monitor the design, approval and implementation processes of these projects. The irregularities mentioned above are the result of policies that still lack transparency and are not part of a accountability paradigm.

More information

A Chinese Agreement

Entre Ríos: “with the pretext of building two aqueducts is to consummate a very large swindle”

Law of aqueducts: filed suit against the “scam” of Urribarri

Law of aqueducts: the Multisectorial will collect signatures to repeal the text

Mid Paraná Dam, aqueducts and China, the spring of hope

Contact

Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org

What information is available about Chinese investments in Latin-America and the Caribbean? How do these investments affect the natural resources governance in Peru, Colombia, Argentina y Mexico?

El Grupo Regional de Financiamiento e Infraestructura (GREFI) analizó los cambios que se están produciendo en el flujo de inversiones chinas en la región y sus impactos en la gobernanza de los recursos naturales, en un evento en el marco de las Reuniones de Primavera del Banco Mundial y el FMI de este año.

A lo largo de las últimas décadas, las relaciones entre China y América Latina se han intensificado enormemente. Se estima que el intercambio de comercial ha crecido de 12 mil a 169 mil millones de dólares entre los años 2000 al 2014 y el año 2015. En este sentido, Pekín anunció la creación de un fondo de inversión de 10 mil millones de dórales para la cooperación bilateral con Latinoamérica para proyectos de tecnología, energía, minería e infraestructura. Su estrategia de crecimiento en América Latina es bastante clara.

Frente a sus inmensas necesidades de materias primas, llega a competir con otras instituciones financieras que por su larga historia y por el trabajo realizado a partir de grandes movimientos de la sociedad civil de la región, han ido generando mecanismos de acceso a la información y políticas para la protección socioambiental. Estos procesos han sido largos y siguen su curso. Nuevos desafíos como la armonización del derecho a la consulta previa y el cambio climático con las estrategias de crecimiento económico para nuestros países, ha hecho que se sigan exigiendo cambios y mejoras.

Con la llegada de China y una alta canalización de recursos en la región, acompañados de una estrategia clara en cuanto su modelo de crecimiento en la región que necesita de materias primas a un ritmo constante, GREFI trae a la discusión algunas preguntas que creemos fundamentales para nuestros países ¿Qué sucede cuando un actor de estas características llega a nuestros países? ¿Cómo se puede acceder a la información sobre las inversiones procedentes de China en la región? ¿Cómo impactan estas inversiones?

Los conflictos socioambientales relacionados a inversiones extractivas y de infraestructura son una realidad reciente debido a marcos regulatorios débiles, baja capacidad de supervisión de los mismos, conflictos entre diferentes niveles de gobierno e mecanismo de consulta ciudadana inadecuados o inexistentes, entre muchos otros factores. Sumado a esto es importante considerar el poco conocimiento que todavía se tiene sobre las compañías chinas, y sobre todo de los marcos regulatorios nacionales con los que trabajan.

La falta de transparencia, el poco acceso a información relevante sobre financiamiento chino y acuerdos bilaterales firmados, es otro asunto sobre el que todos debemos demandar cambios, antes que nuestra capacidad de exigencia se haga más pequeña en comparación con la creciente influencia de china en las políticas de desarrollo en América Latina.

Sobre GREFI

El Grupo Regional sobre Financiamiento e Infraestructura (GREFI)está integrado por cuatro organizaciones de la sociedad civil de la región de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC): Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad (AAS) de Colombia; Derecho Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) de Perú; Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación de México; y la Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables (FUNDEPS) de Argentina.

Fuente: www.grefi.info

 

Contacto:

Juan Carballo – Director Ejecutivo

juanmcarballo@fundeps.org

Gonzalo Roza – Área de Gobernabilidad Global

gon.roza@fundeps.org

The discussion in general terms about China´s financial Role in Latin America. On the other hand, the discussion in particular focuses on this phenomena in Argentina. 

De acuerdo a datos recientemente publicados por el Inter-American Dialogue, China sigue ampliando su rol como financiador de grandes proyectos en la región. Durante el 2015, el financiamiento chino a Latinoamérica fue mayor que el del Banco Mundial y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo sumados. El financiamiento chino sigue teniendo un fuerte foco en el sector extractivo y de infraestructura; desde 2005 China ha financiado proyectos de infraestructura por 40,3 mil millones de dólares y 70,2 mil millones en el sector energético.

En este contexto, Juan Carballo, Director Ejecutivo de FUNDEPS, participó de la mesa de diálogo que se realizó a fines de enero en Washington DC organizado por el Inter-American Dialogue. En este encuentro, representantes del sector público, privado y de la sociedad civil discutieron sobre las implicancias de esta creciente relevancia de China en la región en cuanto a los estándares sociales y ambientales de este financiamiento.

Desde FUNDEPS, se continuará monitoreando el perfil del financiamiento proveniente de fuentes chinas, los estándares socio-ambientales de estos proyectos y el respeto a la normativa de participación, acceso a la información y protección ambiental.

 

Más información:

Contacto:

Gonzalo Roza – Coordinador del Área de Gobernabilidad Global
gon.roza@fundeps.org