Ex-Im Announces the Opening of Short- and Medium-Term Financing in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
U.S. exporters looking to do business in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will now have the option of Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) financing.
Effective immediately, Ex-Im Bank (www.exim.gov) will consider applications for short- and medium-term financing of U.S. exports to Yugoslavia's private sector. Transactions approved under the program would be the first Ex-Im Bank-supported U.S. sales to Yugoslavia since the end of Balkan region hostilities.
Southeast Europe has enormous potential, said Ex-Im Bank Director D. Vanessa Weaver during an address in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Our goal is to create opportunities for Southeast Europe to become a prosperous region in Europe and to develop long-lasting, trusting relationships between the U.S. and the region.
Weaver and several Ex-Im Bank officials were in Dubrovnik for Ex-Im's Southeast Europe Export Finance Conference. The purpose of the event was to provide U.S. exporters and investors, regional government officials, commercial banks and companies with information on U.S. government export finance and investment programs.
The move to resume financing business with Yugoslavia follows the opening of business with Albania in August. In all, Ex-Im Bank considers short-, medium-, and long-term public and private sector transactions in Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Albania, along with short- and medium-term public transactions in Macedonia, and now Yugoslavia's private sector.
Ex-Im Bank will consider structured financing arrangements such as limited recourse project finance in individual cases that offer a reasonable assurance of repayment.
Ex-Im Bank has supported more than $1 billion in U.S. exports to Southeast Europe in the last few years, concluded Weaver. If we stay the course, we will have the satisfaction of looking back in 10 or 20 years on a region that is a reliable, prosperous and stable market for U.S. goods and services.
Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance. Ex-Im Bank supported $15.5 billion in U.S. exports in fiscal year 2000.