Overseas Private Investment Corporation Press Release March 6 2007

Press Release

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

OPIC TO ORGANIZE CONFERENCE ON INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN CENTRAL AMERICA & CARIBBEAN

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Identifying new opportunities for U.S. investment in the emerging markets of Central America and the Caribbean is the goal of an international conference to be organized by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. announced today.

Called Access to Opportunity in Central America and the Caribbean, the OPIC conference will be held May 15-17 in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. It is modeled after successful OPIC regional conferences in Bucharest in 2004, Marrakech in 2005, and Cape Town in May 2006.

For participants, the conference will offer a unique opportunity to hear from leading investment experts, U.S. businesses currently investing in Central America and the Caribbean, financial institutions operating in the region, and U.S. government officials.Conference sessions will focus on investment opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure, energy, tourism, franchising, financial services, and housing.

Companies interested in participating in the conference should consult the OPIC website at www.opic.gov.

For OPIC, the conference represents the culmination of a period of intensive focus on the region: since becoming OPIC President and CEO in October 2005, Mosbacher has visited the region four times to announce a third of a billion U.S. dollars in new project finance for Central America.

During a September 2006 trip to the region, Mosbacher announced $149 million in financing designated for investment in Central America from three new OPIC-supported investment funds – two focused on the housing sector and one on power sector with a focus on renewable energy; a combined $55 million in mortgage finance projects in Honduras and Nicaragua, a $7.5 million microfinance project in all four countries (also Peru and Mexico) and a $1 million regional salt distribution project.

In May 2006, he announced $120 million in new financing for a new private equity investment fund for Central America, Mexico and Colombia; an OPIC loan to fund microfinance institutions in the region; OPIC loans for a series of housing construction and mortgage financing projects that will help relieve the region’s substantial housing need; and an agricultural project in Nicaragua that features both OPIC financing and political risk insurance.

“Over a very short period of time, OPIC has witnessed a substantial increase in investor interest in Central America and the Caribbean, as demonstrated by our 2006 announcements. This conference will capitalize on that trend, bringing together U.S. and regional companies on a much larger scale to identify yet more investment opportunities in the region,” Mosbacher said. “We are confident, given the gathering strength of this dynamic new market and the success of past OPIC investment conferences, that we can demonstrate to a new generation of American companies the wisdom of investing in Central America and the Caribbean.”

Organizations sponsoring the conference are the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, Bankers' Association for Finance and Trade, Business Council for International Understanding, Caribbean-Central American Action, California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce - National Chamber Foundation, Greater Houston Partnership, Invest in Guatemala, World Trade Center Chicago, Nicaraguan Investment Promotion Agency (ProNicaragua), U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Investment Promotion Agency of El Salvador (PROESA), International Franchise Association, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Realtors, Honduran Foundation for Investment and Development of Exports (FIDE), and the National Association of Home Builders.

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 35-year history, OPIC has supported $164 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate more than 732,000 host-country jobs and $13 billion in host-government revenues. OPIC projects have also generated $69 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 264,000 American jobs.