Information in: Español - Français - Deutsch - Português - Russian - Japanese - Svenska - Italiano - Suomi


	Overview of the Problems
	Highlight: Russia's Sakhalin II
	Highlight: The BTC Pipeline

What's New! Vol. 5, No. 3

March 2006

"What's New!" is a periodic update to keep you informed of the latest on 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 receive "What's New!" simply add your e-mail to the ECA-Action list at www.eca-watch.org today! Questions? Email info-at-eca-watch.org

	1)	ECGD approves new/old anti-corruption policies
	2)	ECA Watch compares anti-bribery proposals
	3)	Dam project brings Laos cash and controversy
	4)	IFC Standards approved
	5)	International experts intensify critique of Ilisu dam while regional resistance grows
	6)	Sinosure and Chinese export credits
	7)	Uruguayan pulp and paper complex faces legal battle and diplomatic pressures
	8)	U.S. Aerospace Industries back Ex-Im Bank charter extension
	9)	French ECA Coface expands it's international business
	10)	Berne Union members support 10% of US$10 Trillion in world trade in 2005
	11)	Italy's SACE lends to Vietnamese diesel plant
	12)	India establishes new US$448 million export credit fund
	—	View Back Issues of What's New

1.	ECGD approves new/old anti-corruption policies
	(ECGD, London, 16 March 2006) The Final UK Government response to the public consultation on ECGD's anti-bribery and corruption procedures and associated documents can be found on the ECGD web site. Corner House, the UK NGO which forced the consultation, welcomed them as a genuine and important step in the right direction, but noted that some loopholes remain in the procedures, providing a comparison of the "old" and "new" policies. Meanwhile, UK MPs have criticized the failure of government to crack down on companies involved in corruption abroad.

2.	ECA Watch compares anti-bribery proposals (PDF)
	(The Cornerhouse, Dorset UK, March 2006) ECA Watch presents a table comparing a number of positions and recommendations on anti-bribery policies for export credit agencies: 1) the 2000 OECD Action Statement on Bribery; 2) the 2003 OECD ECG paper on Best Practices; 3) the November 2005 OECD ECG proposed Action Statement; 4) ECA Watch policy recommendations; 5) Transparency International recommendations; 6) the OECD Working Group on Bribery recommendations re ECAs; and 7) a compendium of ECA existing best practices.

3	Dam project brings Laos cash and controversy
	(International Herald Tribune, Paris, 15 March 2006) While World Bank and ECA officials insist that environmental standards will be met and that promised alternative jobs and home relocations are in place before the dam is closed, NGOs believe that electricity sales revenues for the Bank, ECAs and Laos will over-ride the mitigation of environmental and social impacts.


4	IFC Standards approved
4	(IFC, Washington, 6 March 2006) ECAs participating in the 2006 revision of the OECD Common Approaches environment policy should warily eye the International Finance Corporation's recently approved Performance Standards. Warning that the IFC's overhaul of its social and environmental standards relies too heavily on promises of good intentions, international civil society organisations have called the IFC's new approach a risky experiment that could leave the people and environments affected by its projects more vulnerable than they were before.

5	International experts intensify critique of Ilisu dam while regional resistance grows
5	(WEED, Berlin, March 2006) A recent symposium organised by the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive in Turkey in February 2006 brought together experts on hydrology, archaeology, resettlement, irrigation, culture, tourism, amongst others. A new review of the EIA report shows that it does not meet World Bank standards OP 4.01 and OP 4.04. ECA Watch member Berne Declaration noted at an 8 March 2006 Swiss ERG seminar that the project has major flaws and that it’s environmental impact assessment and resettlement plan do not fulfil Worldbank, IFC, OECD and WCD standards, pointing out that without a comprehensive project plan, ECAs should not give guarantees to the project. Recent documents and news can be found at the new WEED Ilisu web site.

6.	Sinosure and Chinese export credits
6.	(China Economic Net, Beijing, 9 March 2006) From 2004 to 2005, China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, also known as Sinosure, covered US$34.4 billion in terms of insured amount, with business doubing on a year-on-year basis for two successive years. Coordinating actively with national industrial and foreign trade policies, export credit insurance has determined key industry sectors to support, worked out plans for the export of high-tech products and products with independent national brands, and developed insurance products for the comprehensive assurance of SMEs.


7.	Uruguayan pulp and paper complex faces legal battle and diplomatic pressures
7.	(IPS, Santiago, 11 March 2006) As tensions between the governments of Argentina and Uruguay over two pulp mills on a river dividing the countries appear to be abating, local residents and activists continue to demand a halt to both projects. The Argentinian Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) is submitting a Specific Instance against Finnish ECA Finnvera plc for breaching OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises with respect to the project. Despite the Argentina / Uruguay 90 day moratorium for an environmental review (see the IPS story linked above), Spanish ECA CESCE on 7 March 2006 published a 30 day ex-ante notice of it's intent to possibly support the project.

8.	U.S. Aerospace Industries back Ex-Im Bank charter extension
8.	(PRNewswire, Arlington, 8 March 2006) Calling the Export-Import Bank a "prudent investment in a dynamic world," Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO John Douglass endorsed legislation reauthorizing the bank in a statement to the Senate International Trade and Finance Subcommittee. The bank provides public financing for private US aerospace and defense industries, facilitating sales to international customers with loan guarantees that counter financing from foreign governments and private-sector lending limitations.

9.	French ECA Coface expands it's international business
9.	(BestWire Services, Norwalk CT, 16 February 2006) With new offices in Australia and Israel, Coface now has US$1.38 billion in turnover worldwide, of which only US$56 million is on behalf of the Government of France as an official OECD ECA. Other news stories note competition between Coface and Spanish ECA CESCE in the Argentinian market outside their official ECA business responsibilities


10.	Berne Union members support 10% of US$10 Trillion in world trade in 2005 (PDF)
10.	(Berne Union, London, March 2006) The Berne Union, an association of private, OECD and non-OECD public ECAs announced that they collectively supported some 10% of world trade in 2005.

11.	Italy's SACE lends to Vietnamese diesel plant
11.	(Nhan Dan, Hanoi, 17 February 2006) Construction of the biggest diesel engine manufacturing factory in Vietnam was kicked off on February 16 at the An Hong Industrial Zone in the northern port city of Haiphong. Total investment for the factory is put at VND 500 billion (US$31.4 million). Of which VND 243 billion (US$15.3 million) is borrowed from Italy as export credit loan. The factory’s technological lines have been imported from Italy.

12.	India establishes new export credit fund
12.	(Business Standard, New Delhi, 18 February 2006) From March, Indian exporters will get insurance coverage for long-term exports similar to those of their counterparts in the US, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and Germany. The commerce ministry has moved to create a national export insurance account (NIEA) with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore (US$448 million) to provide credit risk cover for medium and long-term exports.