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Press Release

Monday, December 3, 2007

OPIC to Organize Conference to Encourage U.S. Investment in Middle East

Washington, D.C. – Identifying new opportunities for U.S. investment in the broader Middle East will be the goal of an international conference organized by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in 2008, OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. announced today.

Called Access to Opportunity in the Middle East, the OPIC conference will be held May 5-7, 2008 at the Kempinski Hotel Ishtar, Dead Sea, Jordan. It will focus on OPIC eligible countries and areas in the broader Middle East region, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen.

It is modeled after successful OPIC regional conferences in Bucharest in 2004, Marrakech in 2005, Cape Town in 2006, and San Salvador in 2007, which together drew a total of more than 1000 U.S. and local businesses to learn about investment opportunities in their respective regions.

For participants, the conference will offer a unique opportunity to hear from leading investment experts, U.S. businesses currently investing in the broader Middle East, financial institutions operating in the region, and U.S. government officials. Conference sessions will focus on access to credit, to low- and middle-income housing, and infrastructure. Speakers will also discuss investment opportunities in sectors such as tourism, franchising, information technology and energy.

Mosbacher said the region was priority for OPIC, which is currently providing nearly $1.8 billion in financing and political risk insurance to 38 projects in the area. Over the course of its 37-year history, OPIC has provided more than $5.9 billion in support to more than 400 projects in the Middle East.

“The markets of the broader Middle East, with their significant populations and long history of entrepreneurship, present great opportunities to American investors,” Mosbacher said. “OPIC is hosting Access to Opportunity in the Middle East because we believe that with the support of American investment and technical knowledge, the region’s markets can grow even more quickly. And with the development of these markets will come myriad developmental benefits for the people of the broader Middle East.”


OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.  It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy.  Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad.  OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

 

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated $74 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 275,000 American jobs.