FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2002

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ANDES WELCOME U.S. OUTREACH TO REGION’S ECONOMIES

More than 200 companies attend interagency trade conference; Peru’s President Toledo hails Bush Admin. support for region; OPIC announces $200 million Quito airport project

President Alejandro Toledo of Peru opened the Andean Regional Trade and Investment Conference in Lima on October 3.

LIMA, PERU – More than 200 companies from the United States, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru attended the Andean Regional Trade and Investment Conference, an unprecedented effort by all trade-related agencies of the U.S. government to encourage American companies to do business in the Andes.

By marshaling the resources of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA) and the Export Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the Bush Administration fulfilled a commitment made by President Bush in March to support economic development in the Andes and increase U.S. outreach to the region, particularly by small businesses. Conference co-sponsors made a priority of enabling American and regional companies to network in order to generate joint ventures.

OPIC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ross Connelly also announced that OPIC would provide a loan of up to $200 million to the construction of a new international airport in Quito, Ecuador – the agency’s second major airport project in the region in the last year, following a June 2001 announcement of a $106 million OPIC loan to modernize Jorge Chavez Airport in Lima. Houston Airport System Development Corporation is the U.S. sponsor for the Quito project.

The co-sponsoring agencies are also involved in the Quito project: Ex-Im Bank will serve as a co-lender, and TDA funded a study of the access road to the airport.

President Alejandro Toledo of Peru, who opened the two-day conference on Thursday, said, “President Bush is delivering results for the countries of the Andes. With his visit in March, he sent an important signal to the democracies of Latin America, and as a result commitments are being fulfilled by both the United States and the countries of the region.

From left, Jeffrey Miller, Ex-Im Bank Senior Vice President for the Export Finance Group; TDA Chief of Staff Carl Kress; Ross Connelly, OPIC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

“We need trade and investment to generate sustainable development,” President Toledo added. “We can do this together, North American entrepreneurs and Andean entrepreneurs, and our commitment is to build a legal and judicial stability for that to happen. We have a great opportunity; let’s take it.”

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs E. Anthony Wayne, another conference speaker, said, “for the United States, nowhere is it more important for prosperity and progress to take hold than in Latin America. President Bush came in March to listen to our friends: what they were doing to make their economies more competitive, to put people to work, to provide essential social services, to fight corruption, and to help those left behind by global change. President Bush took those ideas to heart, and he has responded in good faith.”

OPIC Executive Vice President Ross Connelly said, “U.S. small businesses in particular represent a key element in generating opportunity in the Andes, and identifying prospects for them is a role OPIC will continue to perform. Leading by example, we hope and expect that this conference will inspire participants to explore opportunities in the region.”

TDA Chief of Staff Carl Kress said the conference “represented an important step toward strengthening the relationship between the United Nations and the Andes. Open trade is an integral catalyst for development and a high priority of the Bush Administration. TDA will use a variety of tools to contribute to this effort.”

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs E. Anthony Wayne addressed the conference on Thursday.

Ex-Im Bank Senior Vice President for the Export Finance Group Jeffrey Miller said, “export credit agencies like Ex-Im Bank play a critical role in filling the gap in long-term credits available in emerging markets. We could make a great difference in providing finance in particular to small and medium-sized enterprises, and we are exploring ways to do so.”

In addition to hearing addresses from President Toledo, Assistant Secretary Wayne and Peruvian Prime Minister Luis Solari, conference participants attended interactive panel discussions on opportunities in the transportation, technology, renewable energy and tourism sectors; overviews of the regional investment climate, the experience of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region, and of services offered by OPIC, TDA and Ex-Im Bank to potential investors; and a matchmaking session designed to generate projects in the Andean countries.

TDA promotes American private sector participation in developing and middle-income countries, with special emphasis on economic sectors that represent significant U.S. export potential. By funding various forms of technical assistance, training grants, feasibility studies, conferences, orientation visits, and business workshops, TDA helps American businesses compete for infrastructure projects in emerging markets. In addition, the agency promotes capacity building initiatives and supports U.S. government trade, economic policy and development objectives around the world.

Ex-Im Bank is the official export credit agency of the United States and helps to finance U.S. exports, primarily to developing markets, by providing loans, guarantees and export credit insurance. In fiscal year 2001, Ex-Im Bank supported $12.5 billion of U.S. exports worldwide. In dollar volume, Ex-Im Bank's financing for U.S. small businesses reached 18 percent of authorizations, well exceeding the Bank's previous legislative mandate of 10 percent. In transaction volume, 90 percent of the Bank's transactions were in direct support of small businesses.

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.