LIMA, March 29 (Xinhuanet) -- The Inter-American Bank of Development (IBD) opened its 45th session here Monday morning.

    At the opening ceremony, Lima Mayor Luis Castaneda welcomed about 5,000 delegates from international financial organizations and 46 IBD member states, including IBD President Enrique Iglesias,the Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Cesar Gaviria and leaders of the finance departments of the IBD nations.

    Peruvian Economy and Finance Minister Pedro Kuczynski, who presides over the meeting, said that in order to consolidate the region's financial systems, "it is necessary to go on with and strengthen the measures adopted so far through better supervision,despite the important advances in the last years and the favorable macroeconomic perspective for 2004."

    Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Agustin Carstens said that "Latin America in general goes through a more severe, frequent and repetitive banking crisis than the other regions of the world."

    He stressed the importance and necessity to "strengthen the independence and capacity of central banks and regulators, improvethe rights of property and creditors, correct past mistakes and strengthen the standards."

    The current meeting will see four plenary sessions and last till Wednesday.

    The IBD was founded on Dec. 30, 1959 in Washington under an agreement signed by 19 Latin American countries and the United States. After the agreement's modification on June 1, 1976, some developed European and Asian countries also joined the bank.

    The bank, one of the eldest and biggest multi-national and regional development banks in the world, aims to contribute to accelerating economic development of member states, to grant or guarantee loans for the benefit of member states, their subdivisions or their agencies and any private enterprise located in a member state, and to provide technical assistance and advice to members. Enditem