OPIC ANNOUNCES NEW PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT SUPPORT FOR EL SALVADOR
May 16, 2006

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SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – Robert Mosbacher, Jr., President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) today announced OPIC finance agreements, which will support up to $104 million in new investment support for El Salvador and other signatory countries of the free trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic.

            The announcement came at a joint signing ceremony hosted by Vice President Ana Vilma de Escobar at the Presidential Palace, and was attended by Minster of Economy Yolanda de Gavidia, as well as other officials of the Salvadoran government and private sector business community.

Vice President Escobar and Mr. Mosbacher signed an agreement between OPIC and the National Commission for the Promotion of Investment and Exports (CONADEI), on behalf of the National Investment Promotion Agency of El Salvador (PROESA), to improve joint outreach to U.S. small business investors in El Salvador.

OPIC then signed agreements consisting of OPIC support for a new private equity investment fund that is eligible to invest in companies in El Salvador and other countries in Latin America, as well as an OPIC loan that will finance microfinance institutions in El Salvador and the region.
 
            Mosbacher signed agreements during his visit to San Salvador, part of a four-day trip that will take the OPIC President to El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, the three countries that have entered into force CAFTA-DR.  The U.S. delegation includes representatives from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

            “As President Bush stated last August, ‘Two decades ago, many of the CAFTA-DR nations struggled with poverty and dictatorship and civil strife. Today, they're working democracies, and we must not take these gains for granted.’” Mosbacher said.

Noting that the CAFTA-DR agreement is the first trade agreement to establish a Committee on Trade Capacity Building, Mosbacher lauded the progress that the signing ceremony represented.
           
“As a CAFTA-DR signatory, El Salvador is an exciting market with new potential for U.S. investors,” Mosbacher said. “Our ability to announce these investments nine short months after the trade agreement was ratified is both a sign of the U.S. government’s strong commitment to implementing CAFTA-DR, as well as the attractiveness of El Salvador and the other CAFTA-DR signatories as a destination for investment dollars.”

In addition to the agreement with CONADEI, today’s signing ceremony included:

1. Darby ProBanco Fund II – a private equity investment fund, supported by $45 million in OPIC financing, which will support investments in companies in El Salvador and other countries in Latin America. The total size of the fund will be approximately $90 million, with a minimum of $54 million to be invested in CAFTA countries. OPIC’s board of directors approved establishment of the fund on April 27.
   
   
2. Microfinance International (MFIC) – OPIC is providing $4 million in financing to MFIC, a U.S. company that provides remittance and other financial services in the U.S., in collaboration with microfinance institutions in Latin America. OPIC financing will allow MFIC to make loans to microfinance institutions in El Salvador and other countries in the region to meet the growing needs for micro loans.

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.

Visit OPIC on the web at www.opic.gov.