by Ted Hesson and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – The United States will announce new funding on Friday for countries receiving migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean to reduce arrivals at its border with Mexico and expand economic cooperation in the region, senior U.S. officials told Reuters.
President Joe Biden will bring together Latin American and Caribbean leaders at the White House on Friday to discuss economic issues and migration at the Americas Economic Prosperity Partnership (APEP) Leaders Summit.
The summit follows a similar meeting in Los Angeles last year, which is part of a broader initiative to strengthen economic ties and limit Chinese influence in the region.
The White House said the leaders of Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay are expected to attend the meeting. Friday, as well as representatives from Mexico and Panama.
The United States is working with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), responsible for promoting economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean, to create a new financing platform that will serve middle- and high-income countries, said these officials, on condition of anonymity. The United States will also seek to increase its contributions to the bank, according to one of the officials.
The IDB’s new financing platform is part of a set of measures that will also include funds from the private sector and other donors “to reinforce this welcoming spirit in the region”, the official said. These initiatives aim to broaden the region’s economic prospects in order to discourage migration to the United States.
“It’s about building competitive regional supply chains that can compete in the marketplace, and that means competing with China,” another U.S. official said, adding that improving domestic economies could reduce migratory flows.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson and Andrea Shalal in Washington; French version by Dagmarah Mackos, editing by Kate Entringer)
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