Press Release

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

OPIC OPENS CONFERENCE ON INVESTMENT IN MIDDLE EAST

DEAD SEA, Jordan – Robert Mosbacher, Jr., the President and CEO of the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), today opened Access to Opportunity in the Middle East, an international conference designed to facilitate increased U.S. private sector investment in the region by demonstrating its growing potential across a host of industries and countries.

More than 250 participants from 23 countries, representing U.S. and regional businesses, leading financial institutions and international organizations, are attending the three-day conference, which was officially opened by Mosbacher, Jordanian Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi and American Ambassador to Jordan David Hale.

“Conditions are ripe for a new level of U.S. private sector investment in the broader Middle East. Private sector investment and expertise can usher in a more dynamic era of growth, and one that offers a number of advantages compared to most of the world,” Mosbacher said.

“By one estimate, total infrastructure investment required for the region over the next decade exceeds $630 billion,” Mosbacher said, citing a November 2006 report by Abraaj Capital, an investment firm specializing in the region. “Regional governments are increasingly looking to the private sector to fill the funding gap and so are reforming investment laws and undertaking privatization programs. As a result, investment opportunities for the private sector abound in such sectors as telecommunications, power/utilities, manufacturing, housing and other infrastructure.

“OPIC has organized Access to Opportunity in the Middle East to enable greater numbers of American companies to tap the great potential of this market, in the hope their investment capital and expertise could facilitate new economic growth and development in the region,” he said.

In his remarks to the opening session of the conference, His Excellency Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said: “We are committed to supporting and advancing Jordan’s private sector activity and success, because we recognize that private sector-led growth is the engine of sustainable development, that it promotes the transfer of knowledge and technology, and increases opportunities.”

Ambassador Hale noted that Jordan and the region are poised to take advantage of greater levels of investment.  “Companies are succeeding here because they are investing in people and building a strong workforce that will staff new jobs as the economy continues to grow,” he said.

The conference focuses 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.

Mosbacher noted that over the course of its 37-year history, OPIC had committed more than $6.3 billion in financing and political risk insurance to 442 projects in the countries represented at the conference. OPIC is currently providing $1.9 billion in financing and insurance to projects in the broader Middle East.

For participants, the conference offers 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 sectors such as infrastructure, energy, tourism, information technology, and housing; private equity; and access to credit for small, medium-sized and micro-businesses.

Conference speakers include Rodney J. Eichler, executive vice president and general manager of Apache Egypt Companies, Mark Woodruff, executive vice president of the AES Corporation, Leslie Janka, president of Raytheon Arabian Systems Company, and Jan Plantagie, regional manager of the Middle East for Standard & Poor’s. Other scheduled speakers include senior executives from Cisco Systems, Foursan Group, FreightDesk Technologies, General Systems International, McDonald’s Corporation, Millennium Solar, Nexant Inc., Stanley Consultants, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Finance Corporation, and the International Telecommunications Union.

The keynote luncheon speaker is David Jackson, CEO of Istithmar World Capital, a private equity investment house headquartered in Dubai. Private Equity International magazine named Jackson one of "50 Global Movers" of 2007.

Organizations supporting the conference are the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce; Afghan Business Council Dubai; Afghanistan Investment Support Agency; American Business Forum in Turkey; American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt; American Chamber of Commerce in Jordan; American Chamber of Commerce MENA; Amman Chamber of Commerce; Associations of Banks in Jordan Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Bankers Association for Finance & Trade; Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce; Business Council for International Understanding; Global Trade and Technology Center; International Economic Development Council; International Executive Service Corps; International Housing Coalition; International Telecommunications Union; International Union for Housing Finance; Jordan Chamber of Industry; Jordan Investment Board; Middle East Council of American Chambers of Commerce; Muscat American Business Council; National Association of Home Builders; National U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce; Republic of Yemen General Investment Authority; United Nations Conference on Trade & Development; U.S.-Jordan Business Alliance; and Women’s World Banking.

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 37-year history, OPIC has supported $177 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate over $13 billion in host-government revenues and create over 800,000 host-country jobs. OPIC projects have also generated $71 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 271,000 American jobs.