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June 2004
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"What's New!" is
a periodic update to keep you informed of the latest uploads onto
the ECA-Watch website. What's New! features a wide range of materials
related to the reform of Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) including
NGO publications and releases, news articles, commentaries and announcements
about the policies and practices of ECAs and ECA-financed projects
world-wide. If you would like to be added onto the recipients list
for "What's New!", simply sign up from the website, www.eca-watch.org
today!
Questions?
Email info@eca-watch.org
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Items:
1)
UK Channel Four News Investigates British ECA Practices
2)
German Government Sued Over Climate Change Created by Its ECA
3)
Finnish ECA Agrees to Environmental Transparency
4)
New AIDWATCH Report on Australian ECA
5)
Update on “Uncle Sam's Iraq Quagmire Fund”
6)
US Ex-Im Bank Chairman Diverts Letter About Alleged $180m Bribe
Involving Halliburton Subsidiary
7)
Canada ’s ECA Creates Ecology Pact with Confederation of Indian
Industry
8)
Russian Government May Force BP to Stop Work at Samotlor- Its Largest
Siberian Field
9)
Australia Seeks $500m Owed for Wheat Shipped to Iraq before 1990
10)
APP Reaches Environmental Agreement with ECAs
11)
Facing Gas Shortfall , US Officials Meet with Russian Oil and Gas
Producers
1)
UK
Channel Four News Investigates British ECA Practices
June
8, 2004 – The Channel Four News in the UK reports that the ECGD
has helped Britain to become the world's second biggest arms' exporter.
Although the arms industry makes up just 2% of total British exports,
this industry receives as much as 50% of the financing provided
by ECGD, effectively an annual subsidy of £250 million. A spokesperson
for the ECGD went on record: "Elements of our support have
operated as a subsidy in the past but ECGD ... is working internationally
to eliminate unfair subsidies." Click
here for more on this story from the London Green Party.
2)
German
Government Sued Over Climate Change Created by Its ECA
June
15 – Friends of the Earth reports that a legal challenge was launched
today by Germanwatch and Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) to
force the German government to disclose information on how projects
supported its ECA Euler Hermes AG ("Hermes") effect climate
change. The basis for the suit is the government’s noncompliance
with freedom of information legislation. According to Peter
Roderick, Director of the Climate Justice Programme, "Climate
change litigation has now arrived in Europe . Legal action of this
kind will intensify until the developed world and its corporations
face up to their global responsibilities and deliver huge cuts in
greenhouse gas emissions."
3)
Finnish
ECA Agrees to Environmental Transparency
June
14 - Finnish ECA Finnvera has finally agreed to increase the transparency
of its environmental policy, according to the Finnish ECA Reform
Campaign. Environmental information about projects in the big category
(A) is now to be made public 30 days prior to the final commitment
of the export guarantee.
4)
New
AIDWATCH Report on Australian ECA
May
24, 2004 - A New AIDWATCH report exposes the devastating climate
impact of the Australian Export Credit Agency EFIC (Export Finance
and Insurance Corporation). EFIC has backed fossil fuels over renewable
fuels at a rate of more than 100: 1 over the past 11 years.
5)
Update
on “Uncle Sam's Iraq Quagmire Fund”
May
24, 2004 – According to AlterNet.org, the war in Iraq is costing
each US household approximately $4,000 per year. Also, the US government
has provided over $7 billion in taxpayer-financed institutional
support for the Halliburton Company’s scandal-ridden tenure as a
contractor in Iraq , through financing by the World Bank and the
US Export-Import Bank.
6)
US
Ex-Im Bank Chairman Diverts Letter About Alleged $180m Bribe Involving
Halliburton Subsidiary
May
25, 2004 – The Nigerian online news source Vanguard reports that
staff at the US Ex-Im Bank weren’t able to find a letter of inquiry
sent to the chairman of United States Exim Bank, Philip Merrill,
by an international coalition of groups supporting the investigation
of an alleged $180m bribe offered for Nigeria LNG train contracts.
Staff requested another copy of the letter from the coalition. The
African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) is
pursuing a corruption charge against TSKJ (the joint venture team
of Technip-Coflexip, Snamprogetti, Halliburton KBR and JGC Corporation)
in a Paris court.
7)
Canada’s
ECA Creates Ecology Pact with Confederation of Indian Industry
May
26, 2004 – The Economic Times of India reported that on May 25 the
ECA Export Development Canada finalized a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with the Environment Management Division of the Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII-EMD). The MoU is intended to foster better
relations between Canadian and Indian companies involved in environmental
management projects.
8)
Russian
Government May Force BP to Stop Work at Samotlor- Its Largest Siberian
Field
May
28, 2004 – The online news source Bloomberg.com reports that the
Samotlor oil fields may have to be closed because of a government
regulatory authority’s demand that TNK-BP (a collaboration of BP
and Tyumen Oil) is being developed without a technical plan, in
violation of Russian law. Tyumen Oil previously received a $600m
loan from the US Export Import Bank to increase production at the
site.
9)
Australia
Seeks $500m Owed for Wheat Shipped to Iraq before 1990
May
31, 2004 – ABC Rural, an Australian online news source, reports
that the Australian trade minister is attempting to recoup debt
owed by Iraq to Australian wheat growers. The government’s export
credit agency EFIC paid out $381 million of the debt as insurance
in 1992, but a substantial debt remains.
10)
APP
Reaches Environmental Agreement with ECAs
June
4, 2004 – The Jakarta Post reports that Singapore ’s Asia Pulp &
Paper Co. and its major creditors have reached an agreement on environmental
protection for the firm's Indonesian affiliates. The “environmental
covenant”-- part of APP’s Master Restructuring Agreements-- was
made after environmental studies were undertaken by APP’s creditors,
including the ECAs of eight European countries and Japan .
11)
Facing
Gas Shortfall, US Officials Meet with Russian Oil and Gas Producers
June
11, 2004 – The International Herald Tribune reports that US officials
have conducted a series of meetings this past week seeking long-term
agreements with Russia to import oil and natural gas. The meetings
included some of Russia 's biggest gas producers, including Gazprom
, Russia 's natural gas monopoly; Yukos, the giant oil company;
and Transneft , Russia 's oil pipeline monopoly. In pursuit of liquefied
natural gas, officials propose that the US Export-Import Bank finance
a $15 billion project developing the giant Shtokman gas field. Click
here to read the June 8, 2004, coverage of these meetings by the
Moscow Times.
View
Back Issues of What's New:
April-May
2004
March
2004
January-February
2004
December
11, 2003
November
5, 2003
September
15, 2003
May
18, 2003
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11, 2003
March
17, 2003
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20, 2003
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7, 2003
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24, 2003
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17, 2002
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22, 2002
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29, 2002
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23, 2002
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30, 2002
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26, 2002
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19, 2002
July
08, 2002
June
14, 2002
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