Readout from Chairman Reed's Meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 4, 2020
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Washington, D.C. - President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) Kimberly A. Reed met today with U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter to discuss how EXIM can help American businesses export their "Made in the U.S.A." goods and services to Kenya.

During the meeting, Chairman Reed and Ambassador McCarter discussed how EXIM can advance projects in Kenya. EXIM has a congressional mandate to support projects throughout sub-Saharan Africa. They also reviewed EXIM's historic seven-year reauthorization, which includes a congressional directive to focus on economic and national security challenges from China.

In September, Chairman Reed participated a roundtable discussion in New York City that included representatives from Kenya, which was held in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and highlighted how EXIM support for American exports creates economic growth and prosperity in both the United States and Africa.

In June 2018, officials from the United States and Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at expanding commercial ties between the two nations, which cites EXIM's intention to consider requests for financing or insurance for strategic infrastructure projects, including in the transportation, manufacturing, and oil and gas sectors.

EXIM receives guidance and advice from the congressionally mandated Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee regarding EXIM policies and programs designed to encourage the expansion of financing support for U.S. manufactured goods and services in sub-Saharan Africa.

EXIM also has been focused on furthering the Trump Administration's Prosper Africa Initiative, a whole-of-government economic initiative to substantially increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa. Launched in December 2018, Prosper Africa brings together the resources of more than 15 U.S. government agencies, including EXIM, to unlock opportunities to do business in Africa and advance American and African prosperity and security, support jobs, and demonstrate the superior value of transparent markets and private enterprise for driving growth.

EXIM President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed and U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter
EXIM President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed met today with U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter

ABOUT EXIM BANK:

EXIM is an independent federal agency that promotes and supports American jobs by providing competitive and necessary export credit to overseas purchasers of U.S. goods and services. A robust EXIM can level the global playing field for U.S. exporters when they compete against foreign companies that receive support from their governments. EXIM also contributes to U.S. economic growth by helping to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs in exporting businesses and their supply chains across the United States. In recent years, approximately 90 percent of the total number of the agency's authorizations has directly supported small businesses. Since 1992, EXIM has generated more than $9 billion for the U.S. Treasury for repayment of U.S. debt.

For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.