| November
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)
OPIC and ExIm Bank Sued by Arcata , California
2)
French ECA COFACE Plans to Back Finnish Nuclear Reactor
3)
Canada ’s ECA Funds SUAL Russian Aluminium
Project
4)
OPIC
to Fund Alumina Refinery in Conflict-Torn Guinea
5)
UK ECA ECGD Backs Down on Corruption Controls
6)
Philippines See Influx of ECA Interest in Power Sector
7)
Finnish ECA Money Tied to Costa Rican Scandal
8)
Congress of World Wind Energy Calls for Export Credit Reform
9)
Belgian ECA Launches Improved Website
10)
FERN Assesses EU’s New ECA Transparency Directive
11)
Pipeline Opponents Threaten Legal Action Against UK ’s ECA
1)
OPIC
and ExIm Bank Sued by Arcata, California
November
10, 2004 (The Lumberjack Online ) – Arcata,
California , has joined Oakland, CA, Boulder, CO, Greenpeace and
Friends of the Earth in a suit against the two major export credit
and investment finance agencies of the US . The city seeks damages
expected to the community mainly from an increased sea-level due
to greenhouse gasses. “They take federal money and make investments
and they are not held to the same environmental standards as projects
in the United States ,” said Mark Andre, Deputy Director of Environmental
Services for the City of Arcata .
2)
French ECA COFACE Plans to Back Finnish
Nuclear Reactor
October
22, 2004 (Sources: Greenpeace-
France and Friends
of the Earth- France ) - Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth
have voiced concern that the French ECA COFACE has decided, according
to the COFACE project
list for the 2nd Quarter of 2004 , to give 610M Euros to the
French nuclear company Areva to export a 1600
MW European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR)
to Finland for use by
operator Teollisuuden Voima (TVO). A
December, 2003, press release from Greenpeace about the pending
sale explains that this kind of reactor “ is
claimed to be totally safe and the nuclear industry is hoping to
start a new era of nuclear development with this design.” However,
it continues, “There's nothing new to the safety appraisal of the
EPR.” Read
the COFACE abstract about the Areva reactor (PDF) .
Read
an October 13, 2004, Reuters article about the plans for the TVO
nuclear plant in Finland.
3)
Canada’s
ECA Funds SUAL Russian Aluminium Project
October
15, 2004 (Azom.com News) – Siberian Urals
Aluminium or SUAL, one of the world's top
aluminium producers, has closed an agreement with the ECA Export
Development Canada (EDC) to provide $20M USD financing for the Komi
Aluminium Project. In August IFC and EBRD joined private banks in
backing this Russian project, pledging a 9-year $150M USD loan.
4)
OPIC
May Fund Alumina Refinery in Conflict-Torn Guinea
October
21, 2004 (IRIN, Africa Independent) – OPIC
is expected to participate in a $2B USD alumina refinery in Sangaredi,
Guinea . The refinery, to be built by a Japanese-held company, is
next to the world’s biggest mining complex for bauxite, used to
make aluminum. If the refinery goes forward, it will be the largest
foreign investment project in West Africa since international oil
companies- led by ExxonMobil- invested $3.7B USD to develop Chad
’s oil fields. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have
suspended aid and the EU has withheld large amounts of aid to totalitarian
Guinea pending governmental democratic reforms and corruption safeguards.
5)
UK
ECA ECGD Backs Down on Corruption Controls
November
8, 2004 (The Guardian, UK ) – UK Government Ministers have been
accused of a "spineless" climbdown on bribery and corruption
controls on exporters in response to intense lobbying by the business
sector. Campaigners fear that changes to the bribery controls of
the UK 's ECA would encourage the "worst practice" by
companies operating abroad. After the new
rules were announced, Susan Hawley of the Corner House anti-corruption
campaign said, "This is a spineless and disgraceful government
response to industry pressure and shows who's really the boss at
the ECGD." This news came days after
an article from The
Guardian (October 30, 2004) following up on the Nigerian Bonny Island
/ Halliburton corruption scandal , wherein bribes were paid
through a UK office under ECGD’s watch. Also,
read the ECA Watch “What’s New” October 2004 update on this scandal.
For
more on the ECGD corruption control climbdown, read the
UK Guardian’s Nov. 17, 2004, article on the corporate protests of
existing ECGD corruption controls by Rolls-Royce,
the Airbus Consortium and BAE Systems.
6)
Philippines
See Influx of ECA Interest in Power Sector
October
17, 2004 (Manila Bulletin) – Philippine power executives and the
Philippine National Power Corporation privatization team are said
to be planning a successful resolution of the current dilemma of
the Philippine power sector. The resolution is aided by the influx
of support by finance institutions such as the US ExIm Bank, IFC,
Asian Development Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation
(JBIC), as well as others.
7)
Finnish ECA Money
Tied to Costa Rican Scandal
October
22, 2004 (Tico Times via Americas.org Website) – On October 21 st
former Costa Rican President Calderón Jr. (1990-94) became the second
former Costa Rican head of state arrested in a week. Calderón is
alleged to be behind the illegal disbursement of a $9.2M USD “commission”
tied to a $39.5M USD government contract for the purchase of medical
equipment. The contract included a $32M USD loan from Finland (loaned
via the Finnish ECA ODA: for more on this connection, read the NGO
Finnwatch
November 11 press release ).
8)
Congress of World
Wind Energy Calls for Export Credit Reform
November
4, 2004 (Source: WWEA Website) – The final resolution issued by
the World Wind Energy Conference, held in Beijing, October 31 –
November 4, 2004, calls for global ECA reform. Among its recommendations
it includes “ the amendment of laws which
disadvantage wind power generation projects particularly in the
developing world such as the OECD provisions in relation to export
credits... [and] the World Trade Organisation laws so that individual
nations may make provision to prioritise Renewable Energy development…”
9)
Belgian
ECA Launches Improved Website
October
10, 2004 (Source: Proyecto
Gato ) The Belgian ECA Ducroire/ Delcredere has launched an
update to its website (http://www.delcredere.be)
that is more compliant with the OECD’s
Environmental Common Approaches for Export Credits . Ducroire’s
policies on environment, corruption, indebtedness, and social issues
can now be read on the site’s Ethics
page .
10)
FERN Assesses EU’s New ECA
Transparency Directive
November
5, 2004 (Source: FERN) - FERN, a sustainable forestry NGO, has published
a briefing paper “Blood from a Stone” on a new EU Directive on Public
Access to Information, citing its potential advantages and limitations.
It notes that while ECAs fall under the scope of the directive,
“ a number of exceptions and loopholes in
the text leave Member States with significant room for manoeuvre
in the transposition process and could eventually allow ECAs to
withhold certain types of information or delay the disclosure of
material.” Click
here to download the FERN briefing (PDF).
11)
Pipeline
Opponents Threaten Legal Action Against UK’s ECA
November
17, 2004 (The Independent, UK) – Opponents
to the controversial Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
oil pipeline being built by BP through central
Asia warned the UK that it would face legal action if the pipeline
caused an environmental disaster. For more information on structural
and transparency breakdowns on the BTC pipeline, read
the November 17, 2004, article by The Guardian, UK, “Cracked Joints,”
as well as the October, 2004, What’s
New item about BP’s profit margin and the Baku-Ceyhan project .
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