FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 12, 2002

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Lawrence Spinelli (202) 336-8690
Timothy Harwood (202) 336-8744

CONNELLY: REFORMS IN SERBIA WILL DRAW U.S. INVESTMENT

OPIC Executive Vice President Ross J. Connelly, right, with Serb Minister of Economy and Privatization Aleksandar Vlahovic.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ross J. Connelly, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), today encouraged Serbia’s minister of economy and privatization to continue economic reforms as the best means to attract U.S. private sector investment to the eastern European nation.

"OPIC has been impressed by the Serb government’s aggressive efforts to privatize its industries fairly and quickly, and to attract foreign direct investment. We encourage you to continue this momentum, with the expectation that it will lead to investment-led economic growth in Serbia,” Connelly told Minister Aleksandar Vlahovic. 

Connelly noted that OPIC last August convened a meeting between top ministers of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and leaders of American industry, in an effort to usher U.S. investment into the country as it rebuilds after a decade of war. 

At that meeting, Miroljub Labus, Yugoslavia’s deputy prime minister and minister for foreign economic relations, said that Yugoslavia had stabilized its exchange rate, curbed inflation, increased its foreign exchange reserves to $700 million, and had moved to liberalize its foreign trade, by abolishing non-tariff barriers.

OPIC signed its first bilateral investment agreement with the former Yugoslavia in 1952; in July 2001, a new agreement was signed with the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, enabling OPIC to support projects in Serbia and Montenegro.  

OPIC’s current exposure in Serbia comprises $8.8 million in political risk insurance issued in 1991 for a project in the hotel/tourism sector. Historically prior to 1992, OPIC had provided nearly $98 million in political risk insurance and financing for 18 projects in Serbia, primarily in the manufacturing, tourism, services and agriculture sectors.

OPIC’s political risk insurance and financing help U.S. businesses of all sizes invest in 140 emerging markets and developing nations worldwide. Over the agency’s 30-year history, OPIC has supported $138 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate over $10 billion in host-government revenues and create nearly 668,000 host-country jobs. OPIC projects have also generated $63.6 billion in U.S. exports and create nearly 250,000 American jobs.