BONN, Germany (CMC) — The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, principally through its private-sector arm IDB Invest and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of the United Kingdom (BEIS) will be partnering to create the UK Sustainable Infrastructure Program (SIP) to assist Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The announcement was made during a joint side event in the context of the COP23 climate conference being held in Germany.

The IDB said BEIS is expected to make an initial contribution of about £177 million to the programme, which constitutes the largest partnership effort of the IDB Group and the Government of the UK in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The IDB said SIP will support IDB Group efforts to accelerate sustainable infrastructure development in the region by “catalysing private sector investment for the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Agreement.”

“Infrastructure is crucial to economic growth and development, but there is an infrastructure investment gap in the region that needs to be closed,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. “We welcome this partnership as an excellent example of how to mobilise resources to finance infrastructure that is sustainable, low carbon and climate resilient.”

The IDB said an innovative aspect of the SIP is that it can provide a wide range of instruments — including grants for technical cooperation and blended finance for loans, equity and guarantees — to fully address barriers to private investment, and respond flexibly to borrowing countries’ priorities and needs.

Claire Perry, UK Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry in a recorded address said: “I’m pleased to announce the UK’s latest climate finance funding commitment through a £177 million investment into the new UK Sustainable Infrastructure Programme in Latin America.”