Welcome
U.S. Commercial Service Liaison Office at the
Inter American Development Bank
Our Mission and Scope
The Advocacy Center Commercial Liaison Office to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is an integral part of the United States Executive Director’s Office to the Bank. The Commercial Liaison Office’s mission is to help American businesses take advantage of commercial opportunities through the IDB’s numerous projects. Established in 1959 and with more than $100 billion in capital, the IDB is the oldest and largest regional development bank. Its primary goal is to help accelerate economic growth and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB has 48 member countries: 26 borrowing members and 22 non-borrowing members, including the United States, its largest stakeholder. The region’s primary source of multilateral financing, the IDB provides loans, guarantees, and technical assistance for public- and private-sector projects and generates tens of thousands of contracts every year, ranging in size from a few thousand to hundreds of millions of dollars. These represent numerous commercial possibilities for businesses, including small- and medium-sized enterprises, in public works, supply of goods, and consulting services.
The IDB Group is composed of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF). The IIC focuses on support for small and medium-sized businesses, while the MIF promotes private sector growth through grants and investments, with an emphasis on microenterprise.
Business Services
The Advocacy Center’s representatives at the IDB provide the following services to U.S. firms and organizations:
- Counseling: One-on-one consultations on how to do business with the IDB.
- Market Research and Outreach: Information on IDB project and procurement opportunities and business orientation seminars. Arrangement of marketing presentations to IDB project, sector, and financial specialists.
- Key Contact Information: Appointments with IDB experts.
- Advocacy: Active support to U.S. businesses competing for procurements (including representations and guidance on bidding and resolving payment problems).
The IDB’s Principal Sectors of Activity
- See the list of newly announced 2013 International Buyer Program trade shows
- Learn how a small manufacturing company began exporting to Turkey
- Hear from a family owned power generation business who used the U.S. Commercial Service
