The ceremony was also attended by the Director for Latin America, Dr. Ute Heinbuch, Head of the Latin America Division of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, who took advantage of her visit to discuss future cooperation links with CABEI.
According to CABEI Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi, "environmental sustainability is a transversal axis of CABEI's Institutional Strategy, which is why improving and modernizing the forms of transportation in our region is a priority to which we have been directing our efforts for several years with strategic allies such as the German government, which today, once again, is supporting Central America by joining an initiative as important as this one".
Dr. Thomas Cieslik, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the German Embassy, commented: "Germany will continue with its commitments to the region in development cooperation. In general, regional projects are an important instrument to strengthen the countries' capacities in sustainability issues and in offering quality services to their people, such as public transportation, for example".
Through the signed agreement, CABEI will receive two loans for a total amount of up to EUR130.0 million, plus a financial contribution of EUR2.0 million through the bank "Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau" (KfW), the German government's financial cooperation to promote this strategic sector of sustainable urban mobility, supporting the Central American countries' efforts to mitigate climate change.
This agreement will allow CABEI to grant loans to the public and private sectors for a 20-year term, including up to 5 years of grace at an indicative rate of 4.23%.
CABEI has a long history of financial cooperation with the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW since 2002, having subscribed an amount of EUR 799.8 million in loans for sustainable development in the region.