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What's New! Vol.
6, No. 10
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October 2007 - What's New! Indices - 2005 2006 2007
"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
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1) |
ECA Watch submits issues paper to OECD ECA consultation |
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2) |
Arbitrary expropriation begins at contested Ilisu dam site |
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Yusufeli Dam: Is Turkey blackmailing ECAs over lowered Ilisu standards? |
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China planning to reform Exim Bank into a commercial bank |
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Export Development Canada becomes a signatory to the Equator Principles |
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Export credits for Iran remain a political issue |
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7) |
UK export credit agency slammed for lax environmental standards |
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Eight charged in $80 million scheme to defraud the US Export-Import Bank |
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View Back Issues of What's New |
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| 1. |
ECA Watch submits issues paper to OECD ECA consultation (PDF) |
| ECA Watch members have submitted a paper to the OECD outlining a number of concerns which undermine the credibility of the OECD with respect to inconsistencies and weak monitoring and implementation of OECD export credit policies concerning environmental and social standards, bribery, unproductive expenditures and debt, sustainable development and transparency. |
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| 2. |
Arbitrary expropriation begins at contested Ilisu dam site |
| (WEED, Berlin, 23 October 2007) The European Ilisu campaign has learned during a site visit, that without the knowledge of responsible authorities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the Turkish government has begun to expropriate the first affected villages at the controversial Ilisu dam site on the Tigris river in a move that violates conditions imposed by European export credit agencies. |
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Yusufeli Dam: Is Turkey blackmailing ECAs over lowered standards because of Ilisu? |
| (Amis de la Terre France, Paris, 27 October 2007) The guarantees approved this summer by the ECAs of Switzerland, Germany and Austria for another very controversial Turkish dam, Illisu, have created pressures from Turkey to lower the standards for the Yusufeli dam project, and also the standards of the OECD which these ECAs must respect. |
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China planning to reform Exim Bank into a commercial bank |
| (Forbes, Beijing, 18 October 2007) - The Chinese government, led by the central bank, is in the process of drafting a plan to restructure the Import-Export Bank of China (Exim Bank), one of the country's three policy banks, into a into a commercial institution, said the official Xinhua news agency, citing bank president Li Ruogu. Exim Bank will transform from a government export credit institution to
a bank promoting international economic operation, according to the
17th Communist Party Conference. |
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Export Development Canada becomes a signatory to the Equator Principles |
| (ECD, Ottawa, 27 October 2007) Export Development Canada (EDC) has become a signatory to the Equator Principles, an international financial industry benchmark for assessing and managing social and environmental risk in project financing. EDC is the second Official Export Credit Agency to sign following Denmark's EKF. |
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Export credits for Iran remain a political issue |
| (IHT, Geneva, 25 October 2007) The German Economics Ministry has been scaling back export credit guarantees for trade with Iran, with which Berlin traditionally has had good trade ties. The guarantees totaled US$1.2 billion in 2006, down from US$3.3 billion in 2004, but German companies continued exporting to Iran, with goods last year totaling US$5.7 billion, compared with US$5 billion in 2004. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, in a letter to EU
counterparts earlier this month, urged them to consider new sanctions
that could target companies, "particularly in the banking sector." |
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UK export credit agency slammed for lax environmental standards |
| (Environmental Finance, London, 18 October 2007) The UK government has come under attack for failing to ensure
that its export credit agency performs tough enough environmental and
social checks on the projects it subsidises. |
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| 8. |
Eight charged in $80 million scheme to defraud the US Export-Import Bank |
| (Earthtimes.org, Washington 11 October 2007) Eight defendants have been charged in connection with an $80 million scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States. As part of the scheme, a loan broker in the Philippines assisted borrowers in executing loan agreements with the lending banks and in obtaining loan guarantees or insurance policies from the Ex-Im Bank as part of the loan agreements. |
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