Unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, corruption, violence and crime are seen by the World Bank as major problems in the area. The drug problem has got worse, the report says. The concern about drugs is one of the important items on the agenda of the three-day Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City that concludes Sunday. In its report the World Bank refers to the social exclusion of indigenous people and how it is undermining their development and preventing those countries from capitalizing on their potential. The Bank is, therefore, supporting efforts such as the Ecuador Indigenous and Afro- Ecuadorean Peoples Development Project, which mobilizes community experience, knowledge and cooperation to develop subprojects in agriculture, handicrafts and natural resources management.
Similar efforts are underway in Peru and Colombia, the report says.