La Paz, April 16 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) Bolivian Secretary of the Treasury Luis Arce said Sunday that the proposed South Bank, initiated by Venezuela and other regional countries, will greatly relief its financial problems.

In declarations to the state TV channel 7 from Washington, Arce said the bank will be better adapted to the Bolivian needs that do not receive enough credit resources from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (WB).

"We hope the Bank of the South will manage to understand our countries’ needs and give us credits," he added.

He also noted that a multilateral credit entity would allow his country to carry out infrastructure projects.

The Bank project was born last February in a meeting between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Argentinean counterpart, Nestor Kirchner, to seek a regional multilateral alternative entity to the WB and the IDB, in which Washington is seen as having undue influence, he noted.

The entity could be established in the first half of 2007 with an initial capital of seven billion USD, added Arce.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega meanwhile has accepted an invitation for his country to join the Bank of the South as a partner, TV Bandeirantes reported in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

According to the report, Mantega discussed the issue with representatives of Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador, at a three-hour meeting held on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington.

Mantega made it clear that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be formally invited by Venezuela and Argentina to participate on equal conditions with other members of the bank in an energy meeting scheduled for Tuesday on Isla Margarita.

In statements to television, the Brazilian finance minister pointed out that founding the bank will take at least 12 months, because the original plan must be modified as the institution will finance integration following market norms.

It is necessary to define the role of the Bank of the South, he added, since some want it to be a development bank and others want the institution to help solve budgetary and financial imbalances or the balance of payments, so there is still a long way to go.