CAF and MCDF Launch Landmark Ecuador-Peru Transboundary Water Resource Management Project

A new project that aims to curb pollution and enhance water resource management in the Puyango-Tumbes Transboundary Water Basin between Ecuador and Peru was launched by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF), and partners at an event in Lima on 20 March. The project is supported by a USD2.1 million MCDF grant and is being implemented by CAF.

The launch event featured insights from partners and beneficiaries of the Capacity Development Assistance for the Puyango-Tumbes Transboundary Basin, the first transboundary water resources management project to have MCDF grant support.

Event participants explained how the project seeks to boost data collection and analysis, private sector and broader stakeholder engagement, and investment proposal development to build the basin’s connectivity and inclusive trade potential while protecting its fragile ecology and local people. The focus is on strengthening institutional governance, planning, coordination, outreach, and training.

"This initiative reinforces CAF's work in the region, promoting innovative and sustainable solutions for water management, a fundamental resource for the well-being of our communities and the economic growth of our countries," remarked Mr. Gianpiero Leoncini, Executive Vice President of CAF.

“Promotion of high-quality connectivity infrastructure investment through partnerships is at the core of MCDF’s grant for the Puyango-Tumbes water basin project, which will support its technical capacity building to curb pollution and enhance water resource management,” said MCDF CEO Zhongjing Wang.

Ambassador Eric Anderson, Secretary General of Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other officials from Peru and Ecuador were also among the launch event participants, who collectively noted the project’s alignment with the Binational Development Plan for the Ecuador-Peru Border Region.

Participants emphasized the importance of coordinated activities under the project to engage domestic and local governments and businesses involved in the basin’s water management and pollution control, promote consensus approaches for improving water usage, reduce contamination from industrial activities, and ensure ecological and public health in the area.

Following the launch, CEO Wang and MCDF staff held a bilateral meeting with Executive Vice President Leoncini and his team. Executive Vice President Leoncini expressed his desire to build on CAF’s close collaboration with MCDF and partners to advance high-quality connectivity investment in Latin America and the Caribbean and beyond.

CEO Wang congratulated Executive Vice President Leoncini for chairing the first MCDF Coordination Committee meeting of 2025 in Lima earlier in the day and for the success of CAF’s partnership with MCDF. He observed that CAF has rapidly become an active and innovative MCDF Finance Facility Implementing Partner, having received 12 project grants totaling USD 14.1 million since achieving this status in 2023.

Together, Executive Vice President Leoncini and CEO Wang discussed priorities for taking CAF-MCDF partnership to the next level. Among them included emerging connectivity projects for possible MCDF support and new opportunities for capacity building and knowledge sharing collaboration.