Jordan Times
Monday, May 5, 2008
OPIC describes Dead Sea conference as start of process to increase US investments in Mideast
By Samir Ghawi
AMMAN - Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) will be highlighting the
Middle East as a lucrative destination for investment capital during a
conference on Tuesday at Jordan’s Kempinski Hotel Ishtar, Dead Sea.
“We are very confident that the conference will mark the beginning of a process
to increase US investments in the Middle East,” Lawrence Spinelli, OPIC’s
director of public affairs, told a press conference on Sunday.
OPIC was established as an agency of the US government in 1971. It helps US
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 US foreign policy.
“Access to Opportunity in the Middle East” will focus on OPIC-eligible countries
and areas in the broader Middle East region, including Afghanistan, Bahrain,
Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the West Bank and Gaza, and
Yemen.
“The conference has generated significant interest in both the United States and
the region,” Spinelli said indicating that 250 participants from 24 countries
have already registered for the conference which will be attended by Prime
Minister Nader Dahabi, and Akel Biltaji, chairman of the Jordanian Heritage and
Tourism Committee and vice chairperson of the American Tourism Society.
Noting that OPIC is currently providing more than $1.9 billion in financing and
political risk insurance to 55 projects in the region, Spinelli added that top
executives from leading international institutions and businesses operating in
the broader Middle East will use the investment conference to demonstrate to US
companies that the region is a lucrative destination for investment capital, in
sectors ranging from infrastructure and energy to tourism and information
technology.
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, will all address
Access to Opportunity in the Middle East.
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 Afghan
Growth Fund, the Palestine Investment Fund and the Iraq Middle Market
Development Foundation, as well as the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development, the International Finance Corporation, and the International
Telecommunications Union.
The keynote speaker will be David Jackson, chief executive officer 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.
Access to Opportunity in the Middle East, OPIC’s fifth annual international
investment conference, 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 1,000 US and local businesses to
learn about investment opportunities in their respective regions.
Conference sessions will focus on sectors such as infrastructure, energy,
tourism, information technology, housing, private equity and access to credit
for small-and medium-sized and microbusinesses (SME).
Spinelli underlined the SMEs as a priority for OPIC and described the conference
as an ideal forum for those in the US and the Middle East as representatives of
such institutions need only attend the event without having to travel to all the
countries.
The OPIC official valued the enthusiasm and significant support given by various
Jordanian ministries and government departments and mentioned in particular the
encouragement from His Majesty King Abdullah and the role of the Jordan
Investment Board.
“By holding the conference in Jordan, OPIC reflects the strong and close
political and economic relations between the US and the Kingdom as well as the
growing role of Jordan in the economy of the Middlle East,” he concluded.
OPIC’s political risk insurance and financing help US 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 $177 billion worth of
investments which have helped developing countries 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.