WASHINGTON, D.C., October 24, 2019 — His Excellency Sidney Collie, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), delivered remarks at the Annual Reception to honour the National Days of Caribbean Countries hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Thursday, October 24, 2019
In his remarks, Ambassador Collie highlighted the resilience of the Caribbean and the important partnership the IDB has with The Bahamas and the Caribbean.
The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago—along with Dutch-speaking Suriname—are represented collectively as the Caribbean Constituency on the Executive Board of the IDB. The Caribbean board member alternates every four years, and the current member is Barbados’ Selwin Charles Hart, a former Barbados Ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Hart’s immediate predecessor as IDB Executive Director for the Caribbean region for the previous four years was Bahamian economist Jerry Butler.
On his Facebook page, Mr. Hart thanked IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno “for joining us to celebrate the national days of the Caribbean members of the IDB.”
The Board of Executive Directors of the IDB “is responsible for the conduct of the operations of the Bank and for this purpose may exercise all the powers delegated by the Board of Governors,” according to the IDB’s website.
“The Board of Executive Directors usually meets once a week and, among other duties, is responsible for approving loan and guarantee proposals, policies, country strategies, the administrative budget, setting interest rates, and making decisions on borrowings and other financial matters,” the website notes.
It adds: “The Board of Executive Directors is composed of 14 Executive Directors representing 48 member countries and also includes 14 Alternates, who have full power to act when their principals are absent. The Board of Executive Directors has five Standing Committees that review and discuss documents. This task of the Committees is based on an Annual Work Program. All fourteen Chairs of the Board of Executive Directors are members of each of the Standing Committees.”
According to the website, “The work of the Board of Executive Directors is guided by the Regulations of the Board of Executive Directors, the Code of Conduct of the Board of Executive Directors and the Consolidated Procedures and Terms of Reference of the Standing Committees.”
