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Mexico City, February 21, 2005 – “The Partnership for Prosperity that Presidents Bush and Fox launched just over three years ago has led directly to the 570 million dollars in financing for new investments announced today by the United States government,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza said during the visit to Mexico of the head of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). “This shows the powerful financial leverage that our public and private sectors achieve by working together.”
OPIC’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Watson made public four new projects totaling $570 million in financing for Mexico that were recently approved by OPIC’s Board of Directors.
The latest projects --a $200 million credit guaranty framework with Banamex, a $250 million revolving credit facility with ICA-Fluor for PEMEX contracts among others, plus two investment funds of $60 million each with Baring Latin American Partners LLC and Conduit Capital Partner LLC – significantly increased OPIC investment in Mexico.
“These investments will fuel private sector growth in Mexico at the level of small and medium-sized businesses, with a special focus on the energy sector,” the Ambassador noted. “When Mexican and American business work together, that’s when we see results in jobs and benefits for consumers.”
OPIC was established in 1971 as a self-sustaining U.S. government agency to help U.S. businesses invest in emerging markets and developing countries by providing financing and political risk insurance.
The Partnership for Prosperity is a unique initiative begun by President George W. Bush and President Vicente Fox in September 2001 to utilize existing resources of business, governments and academia in cooperative ventures that would spur economic growth where the need is greatest. A key example is the agreement signed by the U.S. and Mexico in 2003 to enable OPIC to provide investment support for private sector projects. Since ratification by the Mexican Senate in April 2004, the OPIC financing agreement has provided $41 million to 11 projects in Mexico.
For more information on the new OPIC projects in Mexico, in a press release prepared jointly with the Mexican Secretary of the Economy, go to the OPIC press website: http://www.opic.gov
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