Negotiations Successfully Concluded for Replenishment of CDB's Special Development FundThe Caribbean Development Bank has successfully concluded negotiations for the latest replenishment of its Special Development Fund which were started in Georgetown, Guyana, in November 2004, after a final round of meetings held at CDB's Headquarters in Barbados on October 13, 2005. Contributors pledged amounts totalling USD158 million to support the operations of the Fund over the next four years. This represents a significant increase over the last replenishment of USD95 million in 2001.SDF is a partnership involving the Bank's regional borrowing members, regional non-borrowing members (Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela) and non-regional members (Canada, China, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom). It is the Bank's principal window for providing loans of high development priority on very concessionary terms. Grant financing also forms a significant part of its operations. Resources from this new replenishment will make it possible for the Bank to address the problems of poverty reduction and broad-based economic growth in its BMCs, as well as to assist countries towards achieving the MDGs, and to strengthen the development effectiveness of its interventions. A significant allocation has been set-aside for launching the Bank's operations in Haiti once that country accedes to membership of the Bank.