Madrid, the 18th of May 2020.- The Spanish Development Finance Institute, COFIDES, S.A., S.M.E., participated in the annual meeting of the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI), in which they strengthened their coordination so as to implement actions that help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COFIDES Chairman, José Luis Curbelo, said about the meeting that “steps were taken towards closer coordination with regard to COVID-19, not only between members, but also with other actors in the European development finance structure, with the aim of proposing inclusive and sustainable development in response to the challenges we are facing with the coronavirus pandemic”.
Recently, more than 25 development finance institutions, including COFIDES, signed the joint statement 'Expanding cooperation between development finance institutions in response to COVID-19'. The document underlined "the important role they play, responding quickly and flexibly" in order to support the private sector in developing countries during the crisis. COFIDES, and the other members of EDFI, consider it essential to foster “a robust private sector in order to sustain markets and employment and, ultimately, accelerate the economic recovery”.
COFIDES CONTINUES ON THE EDFI BOARD OF DIRECTORS
During the annual EDFI meeting, the participating institutions also agreed for COFIDES to remain as a member of the Board of Directors of the association for another year. Since 2017, the Company has been a member of EDFI's highest governing body, together with CDC (United Kingdom), BIO (Belgium), SIFEM (Switzerland), FMO (Netherlands) and Swedfund (Sweden).
EDFI has also advanced its harmonisation initiative regarding impact, gender and sustainability, on which it has been working jointly since May 2019. During the general meeting, advances were presented in methodologies and indicators to promote better practice and coordination of all members with the objective of achieving maximum alignment with current international commitments.
ABOUT EDFI
EDFI promotes the work of 15 bilateral European development financofidece institutions that invest in the private sector in emerging and developing markets in order to create jobs, drive growth and fight poverty and climate change. Since EDFI's inception in 1992, its members have invested in approximately 15,000 projects and are currently managing a combined investment portfolio of $50 billion in financial services, clean energy, industry and many other sectors in more than 100 countries. A significant part of this portfolio is climate finance.
ABOUT COFIDES
COFIDES is a state-owned company which has been offering financial support to Spanish companies investing abroad since 1988. COFIDES is accredited to the European Union (EU) to manage funds coming from the EU budget, allowing the structuring of transactions with a high impact on development. COFIDES is also accredited to the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) and can therefore structure operations on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Moreover, COFIDES is the exclusive manager of FIEX and FONPYME funds on behalf of the Secretariat of State for Trade attached to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and also supports AECID in managing FONPRODE funds. COFIDES’s shareholders include Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell and CAF-Development Bank of Latin America.
