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AP Online via NewsEdge Corporation :

BOGOTA, Colombia_Colombia’s ambassador to the United States was elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank Wednesday, a victory for Washington and its staunchest Latin American ally.

Luis Alberto Moreno, envoy to the United States for six years, was chosen by the bank’s governors over candidates from the leftist governments of Brazil and Venezuela and aspirants from Peru and Nicaragua.

Moreno, a former minister of economic development in Colombia, will assume his duties Oct. 1, succeeding Enrique Iglesias of Uruguay, who stepped down in May after leading the development bank since 1988. The bank has provided more than $100 billion in development loans to Latin America and the Caribbean.

The election of Moreno to a five-year term as head of the bank came just three months after U.S. influence in the region faded when Washington’s favored candidate to head the Organization of American States lost out to a Chilean leftist.

Despite expectations of a drawn-out battle, Moreno was elected barely two hours after the meeting began, with 20 of the 28 member countries from the Americas reportedly voting for him in the secret ballot.

Moreno, 52, has earned respect among insiders in Washington, where he has served as ambassador since 1998.

Working quietly behind the scenes, Moreno has fostered bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for aid to Colombia, which is beset by a guerrilla war and drug trafficking. Since 2000, Washington has provided some $4 billion in aid to this Andean nation under Plan Colombia, which focuses on counterinsurgency and counternarcotics assistance and makes Colombia the biggest recipient of U.S. aid outside the Middle East.

“We are delighted for him, delighted for Colombia,” visiting U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said at a Bogota news conference. “He is one of the most effective ambassadors from any country.”

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe retained Moreno as his top envoy to Washington _ arguably Colombia’s most important diplomatic post _ when he became president in 2002. Uribe lobbied for Moreno to become chief of Latin America’s development bank and greeted the news with a jubilant message to the nation.

“We waged a campaign with no polarization, with solidarity, with perseverance and with passion and decency,” Uribe said.

Roger Noriega, the top State Department official for the Americas, confirmed the United States backed Moreno to lead the IDB.

Treasury Secretary John Snow said he looks forward to working with Moreno.

“The private sector has emerged as the primary driver of economic growth, and the IDB needs to help unleash the power of the region’s entrepreneurs,” Snow said. “We look forward to working with President Moreno … to propel the bank forward to meet the region’s critical need for economic development and prosperity.”

The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is a vocal opponent of Plan Colombia and has had testy relations with both the United States and Colombia, had nominated Jose Alejandro Rojas in an apparent attempt to undercut Moreno’s chances.

<<AP Online — 07/29/05>>