FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2002

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For further information, contact:
Lawrence Spinelli (202) 336-8690
Timothy Harwood (202) 336-8744

OPIC OPENS SMALL BUSINESS CENTER

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) today opened the OPIC Small Business Center, a new resource designed to improve the agency’s capacity to support investment by U.S. small businesses in emerging markets.

The latest of several OPIC outreach efforts to small business, OPIC President and CEO Dr. Peter Watson announced establishment of the center on September 18, when OPIC launched its Small Business Initiative with the Small Business Administration.

The Small Business Center will coordinate OPIC expertise for the development of small business deals through a streamlined approval process aimed at reducing costs for U.S. small businesses. OPIC Chief Financial Officer Gary Keel, a former acting associate administrator of the SBA, will serve as director of the center.

Dr. Watson said, “By focusing OPIC’s considerable expertise on the efforts of U.S. small businesses to expand into emerging markets, we hope to unleash one of the primary engines of American economic growth – small businesses themselves – on new markets overseas, which in turn will stimulate free markets in developing countries. Establishment of the center, along with the OPIC/SBA Small Business Initiative, represent an aggressive response to President Bush’s call for greater coordination between federal agencies, especially in the area of trade and overseas investment.”

For more information about OPIC’s Small Business Center, call 202-336-8700.

OPIC was established as an agency of the U.S. government in 1971. It helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy. Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers.

OPIC’s political risk insurance and financing help U.S. businesses of all sizes invest in more than 150 emerging markets and developing nations worldwide. Over the agency’s 30-year history, OPIC has supported $142 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate over $11 billion in host-government revenues and create over 673,000 host-country jobs. OPIC projects have also generated $64 billion in U.S. exports and create more than 253,000 American jobs.