The delegation also participated in the signing of a $150 million loan by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) with Ecuador’s Produbanco, benefitting small and medium enterprises and women entrepreneurs.
Quito, September 28, 2021. As part of the United States of America’s contributions to the G7’s Build Back Better World initiative, highlighted by President Biden at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York last week, White House Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, Daleep Singh, traveled to Quito today to meet with Ecuadorian counterparts in the public, private, and civil society sectors and to learn more about Ecuador’s infrastructure needs and development plans. Singh was joined in Quito by the Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC), David Marchick, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Ricardo Zúniga.
Build Back Better World (B3W) is a values-driven, high-standard, and transparent infrastructure partnership led by major democracies to help narrow the $40+ trillion infrastructure need in the developing world, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through B3W, the G7 and other like-minded partners will coordinate in mobilizing private-sector capital in four areas of focus—climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality—with catalytic investments from our respective development finance institutions. As the United States and our allies further develop and implement B3W, robust and meaningful partnerships will be critical to ensure we offer a positive choice to meet the infrastructure needs of people all over the world.
During their visit to Ecuador, members of the U.S. delegation met with President Guillermo Lasso, with the Minister of Finance Simón Cueva, with the Minister of Telecommunications Vianna Maino, with the Minister of the Environment Gustavo Manrique, with the Secretary of Human Rights Bernarda Ordóñez, with the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade Daniel Legarda, with the Vice Minister of Electricity Gabriel Argüello, with the Director of National Information Management of the Planning Secretariat Jaime Sempértegui to learn about Ecuadorian infrastructure initiatives and challenges. They also met with representatives of civil society and the private sector to discuss government transparency and community engagement with respect to infrastructure projects.
While in Ecuador, the delegation also marked the signing of a $150 million loan to Banco de la Produción (Produbanco). Produbanco will utilize DFC financing to on-lend to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and women borrowers which promote gender equity and inclusion; have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; and are promoting green development projects that combat climate change.
“DFC is proud to support Produbanco in addressing three of the most challenging issues we see in Ecuador today– the COVID-19 pandemic, gender gaps in financing, and climate change,” said David Marchick, DFC’s Chief Operating Officer. “Produbanco’s focus on lending to women borrowers and SMEs in underserved areas promises to drive impactful economic development for the people of Ecuador.”
U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador Michael J. Fitzpatrick, who witnessed the signing, said, “This latest in a series of loan agreements by DFC with Ecuadorian banking institutions is a clear demonstration of the U.S. commitment to Ecuadorian entrepreneurs as engines of the country’s growth, and particularly to those small and medium enterprises which value and harness the contributions of all sectors of society toward that growth, in developing Ecuador’s enormous potential in an environmentally sustainable way.”
The delegation’s visit to Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama was the first overseas leg of a comprehensive global listening tour to gain a better understanding of how the U.S. government can best support the Build Back Better World initiative in transparently benefiting the infrastructure needs of partners around the world.
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