The Argentine government will officially propose Cecilia Todesca Bocco as a candidate to occupy the position of president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), when the deadline for submitting applicants expires this Friday, official sources reported.
Todesca Bocco, current Secretary of International Economic Relations, dependent on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, arrived in Paris on Thursday together with Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, from Riyadh, where they participated in the VII Meeting of the Argentina-Arabia Mixed Commission Saudi.
In Paris, Cafiero and Todesca are part of the entourage that accompanies President Alberto Fernández, on his tour of that country, which will continue in a second stage through Bali (Indonesia) to participate in the G20 leaders’ summit.
“When the President decided to propose a name, we suggested that it be a woman,” said sources from the Argentine delegation in Paris.
During the course of this Friday, the deadline for the presentation of candidacies to preside over the IDB expires in place of the dismissed US official Mauricio Claver-Carone, in a position that has never been chaired by a woman since its creation in 1959.
Official sources indicated that President Alberto Fernández wanted to nominate a woman to break the so-called “glass ceiling” and be able to preside over the IDB for the first time since its creation in 1959.
The vote for the election of the new president of the IDB, after the dismissal of the American Mauricio Claver-Carone, will take place on November 20, in an assembly of governors that will take place in the city of Washington.
The candidates that have already been made official so far were presented by Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Costa Rica.
Outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has nominated the current IMF Western Hemisphere director Ilhan Godlfjan for the job.
Meanwhile, the Mexican Manuel López Obrador nominated the former head of ECLAC, Alicia Barcena.
Ecuador, for its part, is running Augusto de la Torre, who was chief economist for Latin America at the World Bank; Costa Rica ruled in favor of its former president Laura Chinchilla; and Chile proposed former Finance Minister Nicolás Eyzaguirre, who was also director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere department.
At the time of the vote, the position of the US Treasury will be key.
Sources related to the IDB in Washington consulted by Télam said that “the new presidency of the IDB should arise through a consensus candidate, who has not been president before, who has a relatively young momentum and, furthermore, there is an inclination that by The first time a woman holds the position.
