[PEN-L:27185] Re: OPIC dei

[Eugene Coyle <eugenecoyle@xxxxxxx>]

The recent ascension of one of Suharto's generals as the head of Indonesia'a
military was coincident with an announcement of new support for foreign
electric power investments.

    One major coal plant was built by US investors, GE and Edison International (along with Mitsubishi.)  A Suharto relative was GIVEN 15% ownership -- to be paid for future earnings from the operation of the plant.  That  greased the approval some years ago.  OPIC financed part of the construction.  With the downfall of Suharto, the guarenteed purchase of the output from the plant at murderous prices was suspended.

But now we see the US govt. once again at work, bringing enlightened commercial rules to save Indonesia.  And incidentally saving GE and Edison's investment.

Gene

"Devine, James" wrote:

 

From yesterday's SLATE news summary: >The WS [JOURNAL] reports, "The Bush administration has stepped into a long-simmering legal dispute in the Dominican Republic, threatening to discourage investment there if the dispute isn't resolved in favor of a significant Republican political contributor," El Paso Corp. The article never says that the White House per se pressured the Dominican government. Instead, the Journal points out that the Dominican government received a letter about the dispute from OPIC [the Overseas Private Investment Corporation], a government agency that provides loan guarantees for companies investing abroad, warning that the Dominican gov't should abide by the findings of an international arbitration board that ruled in favor of El Paso. "This is something we do for all our clients," said an OPIC spokesman.
 

>Bonus context: OPIC has been criticized in the past for supposedly being too buddy-buddy with some U.S. corporations. For example, see the WP's May 6th story entitled, ENRON PIPELINE LEAVES SCAR ON SOUTH AMERICA; LOBBYING, U.S. LOANS PUT PROJECT ON DAMAGING PATH.<

(font = Arial 12 pt. Does it appear that way to you?)

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine