China Development Bank Pledges 10 million USD in consortium agreement with Banco Unión

On September 22, 2011 the Chinese Development Bank (CBD) signed a consortium agreement with state-owned Banco Unión, according to which CDB pledged to contribute $10 million. The funds were intended to contribute to the Banco Unión’s ability to finance development projects according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Commerce and the Bolivian media. A memo from the Banco Unión, on the other hand, indicates the agreement was focused more on trade facilitation between China and Bolivia. The agreement also provided the Banco Unión with technical assistance and personnel training to make the bank operations more efficient. This agreement is one of six that was signed on the same date in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, by President Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro García Linera of Bolivia with Vice Premier Hui Liangyu of China, which, in addition to the financial agreement, targeted economic, technical, and agricultural cooperation, and telecommunications. There is no evidence the CDB funding was ultimately provided.

Additional details

Projects #70647 and #70648 signed on the same day. CRS sector has been set to “Unallocated/Unspecified” to reflect that, regardless of if the loan program is more focused on internal development or developing sectors important for bilateral trade, the projects to be financed are unspecified.

Number of official sources

3

Number of total sources

8