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What's New Items 2002-2004

The following are What's New Updates compiled for three years, in chronological order, most recent first.

2004

2003

2002

Go to the Archive of All Back Issues of What's New (by issue)

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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 us!

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What's New! from ECA Watch Vol. III, No. 10

   A.

   C. Legal Challenge Ahead for UK ECA

2) Recent News on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline

   A. Pipeline to Exceed Costs

   B. BTC Riddled with Corrosion

   C. UK Admits Pipeline Failure Due to Experimental Engineering

   D. Exxon Spurns BTC Pipeline for Trains

   E. Italian Bank Pulls $60M Funding as BTC Nears Completion

3) Recent News on the Russian Oil and Gas Project Sakhalin II

   A. Shell’s Sakhalin II Charm Campaign Overstates Benefits to Russia

   B. Sakhalin’s Indigenous People Plan Protests of Oil and Gas Projects

   C. Sakhalin II Pipeline Soils Water in Korsakov, Russia

4) Recent News on OPIC

   A. OPIC Sues Indian Government Over Dabhol

   B. OPIC Promises $250M in Support to Israeli Gas Pipeline

5) Recent News on the Japanese ECA JBIC

   A. JBIC Pledges $220M to Indonesian Power Plants

   B. JBIC Looks Toward Mining

6) Recent News on the Russian ECA and Foreign Trade Bank

  A. Russian Vneshtorgbank Makes Agreement with Korean ECA and with Canadian ECA

   B. Russian and Indian ECAs Enter Into Agreement

7) Qatar LNG Company Receives $930M in Support from US ExIm Bank

8) French ECA COFACE Uncertified for Three Years Running

 ~ View Back Issues of ECA Watch What's New!


 

 

Read our July 2004 update on the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline here.

 

 

WEED

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.

 

1) UK Parliament Rips British ECA on Baku-T'blisi-Ceyhan Pipeline 

2) Export Credit Group Rebuffs call for Discussion on Bribery

3) Victory Against Proposed KEPCO Coal-Fired Power Plant in Iloilo, Philippines

4) Brazilian NGOs write Letter to BNDES Urging Bank to Act in More Sustainable Manner

5) Belgian NGO Files Complaint against Tractebel in Belgian ECA-backed Dam Project

6) Global Witness Transparency Report on Oil, Mining, and Gas Revenues

7) Denmark ECA adopts “Equator Principles”

8) JBIC May Support 1,500-Mile Siberian Pipeline

9) JBIC to Support Greenhouse-gas Reducing Projects in Mexico

10) JBIC and NEXI to Support Second Fertilizer Plant Project in Iran

11) Japan Waives Bangladesh Debt to JBIC

12) JBIC Extends Financing to India

13) Japan Issues First Trade Insurance for Postwar Iraq

14) Em-Im Bank's First Transaction in Postwar Iraq

15) Ex-Im Chairman on Bank's Role in Iraq

16) Democratic Alliance Welcomes Brit Arms Probe

17) ECGD and Troubled Dabhol Power Project

18) British, French, and Italian ECAs Finance Oil Pipeline in Algeria

19) Bulgarian Nuclear Plant Back in Action

20) Australian Firms Plunder the Environment in Papua New Guinea

21) Australian EFIC Proposes Assistance to Sri Lanka with Water Supply Project

22) OPIC's 2003 Environmental Report Now Online

23) COFACE Releases List of Projects

1) Arms Deal Blocked

February, 2004 The Belgian NGO, Proyecto Gato, and the U.K. NGO, Rights and Accountability In Development, have won an impressive victory to block the Belgian Government license for proposed arms transfer to Tanzania, which was to be backed by the Belgian ECA, Delcredere. See the four-page NGO background memo on the victory. See the Wallon-Minister - President Van Cauwenberghe press release about the denied license.

2) Leaked Report Exposes Leaky BTC Pipeline

February 18, 2004 Human rights and environmental groups demanded an independent inquiry into BP's embattled Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, following allegations in the Sunday Times that the company concealed both potential fraud and likely environmental catastrophe from governments and banks which subsequently decided to fund the project. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline project is co-financed by the IFC, the EBRD, and various other government agencies including US-Exim, JBIC, Nexi, Hermes, SACE, Coface, ECGD, OPIC, and commercial banks. “This pipeline will be like an artificial fault line running through some very unstable territory,” says the World Wildlife Fund.

See NGO Press Release

See Sunday Times exposè

 

3) Hunger Strike Looms At Proposed Coal Plant

Philippine environmental activists are poised for a hunger strike when construction of a 210-megawat coal-fired power plant in Villanueva Town, Misamis Oriental Province commences. According to a spokesperson for the Philippine NGO, Task Force Macajalar, “We believe that risking our lives would be worth it if only to stop the madness of government officials who are out to kill us with the toxicity of the pollutants of the coal." Friends of the Earth Japan has urged the Japanese Bank for Reconstruction and Development to not support the project.

See articles in:

Inquirer News Service

Sun Star

Minda News

 

4) OPIC Releases New Policies for Forests and Dams

February 2004 OPIC has released updated environmental policies conditioning their support for investment in dams upon the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams and prohibiting support for projects that result in conversion or degradation of critical forest areas or related critical natural habitats.

 

5) Private Sector Targeted Alongside ECAs

February, 2004 Efforts to halt environmentally and socially controversial projects are shifting from the public sector (such as The World Bank Group or Export Credit Agencies) to the private sector (such as the Equator Principles, singed by private banks), writes Jon Sohn for Environmental Finance magazine.

 

6) Banking on Empire

February 17, 2004 According to the Guerilla News Network , by mortgaging the national oil revenues through the Trade Bank of Iraq, a bank managed by New York-based multinational JP Morgan Chase, Iraq ministers can now borrow billions of dollars to buy equipment from overseas suppliers. The Trade Bank of Iraq was formed partially to replace the trade guarantees established by the U.N. oil-for-food program. Unlike the oil-for-food program, the Trade Bank guarantees are administered by the private sector and various government export credit agencies. Although the Occupation Authority and J.P. Morgan Chase are making it possible for Iraq to trade with the outside world and buy necessities, critics express concern that the multinational banks may be shackling a future Iraqi government with an unknown quantity of debt, and that the Trade Bank of Iraq will favor companies from contributing nations, regardless of whether they offer the best products for the price.

 

7) Three ECAs to Support Railway Project in Philippines

February 21, 2004 According to Sunstar, the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), KFW-Hermes of Germany, COFACE of France, OEKB in Austria, and the European Investment Bank, are helping to fund the Penay Railways Rehabilitation Project, a project to revive the railway system between Iloili and Roxas, and the integration of the existing railway line with the airport in Cabatuan-Sta. Thousands of Iloili City residents, who will be negatively affected by the Railway, are petitioning the City Council to block the revival and to conduct a public hearing regarding the project.

 

8) Russian Diamond Monopoly and Canada's EDC Sign US$15 Million Deal

February 8, 2004 According to Tacy Ltd ., Canada's state export credit agency, Export Development Canada (EDC) and Russian diamond monopoly Alrosa, signed a five-year credit agreement to finance Alrosa's imports of Canadian-made mining machinery and transport management equipment. This marks the first agreement between a Russian company and EDC.

 

9) Deals Without Tenders

February 23, 2004 According to Balkan Reconstruction Report , critics claim that the Romanian government backed two projects without undergoing proper tender processes, one of which will be ensured by China Road & Bridge Corp. through loans from Eximbank China, China Development Bank, and Sinosure, China's official export credit insurance agency. This comes on the heels of the Romanian government's controversial December 2003 decision to award the San Francisco based construction giant, Bechtel, a $2.5 billion contract to build a four-lane, 415 kilometer motorway from the city of Brasov to Oradea. Opponents to the Bechtel contract stated that the contract process was politically motivated and violates an agreement with the EU on public acquisitions. Top ten banks announced interest in the Bechtel project, which will receive some loan guarantees from U.S. Exim Bank.

 

10) Review of Oil and Gas in Indonesia

February 29, 2004 According to Laksamana.net , a week after a fire broke out at the Attaka offshore oil and gas field off East Kalimantan Province, JBIC and Nexi signed a $400 million loan agreement with the State-managed PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) to help finance a petrochemical project in Tuban, East Java. The plant will have the capacity to produce 3.6 million tons of petrochemicals annually, comprised of 1 million tons of aromatics, 1 million tons of light naphtha, and 1.6 million tons of kerosene and diesel.

11) Exim Bank Approves $60 Million Credit for Mexican Utility

March 1, 2004 According to PRNewswire , the US Ex-Im Bank approved a $60 million credit guarantee to back Mexico's government owned utility, CFE's, purchases of equipment and services from a wide-range of US companies. Several foreign companies backed by their export credit agencies are seeking to address CFE's procurement requirements.

12) Bibliography of ECAs covering policy, legal and economic literature including books, journal articles, papers, monographs and policy notes written over the past 40 years. 

13) A History of Exim Bank

U.S. Exim Bank has commissioned a book of its history, from 1934 to 2000. Inter Alia , The Market, The State, and The Export-Import Bank of the United States , explores the tension between private market principles and foreign policy objectives within the U.S. Government and the Exim Bank. See the book reviews by:

Becker, William H. and William M. McClenahan, Jr., Economic History Services

Michael R. Adamson, Business History Review

 

1) Request for civil society consultation on OECD ECA Arrangement Review: On Feb. 3, 2004, 12 NGOs in the ECA-Watch Network called on the Chair of the Participants of the OECD Export Credit Arrangement to conduct a consultation with civil society regarding its 2004 review and revision of the Arrangement. The NGOs are concerned that, inter alia , the current Arrangement favors coal, oil, gas, and hydro power over renewable sources of energy. View a copy of the letter.

2) ECA-Watch Press Release: Groups Blast Weak OECD Agreement on Environment

A common agreement among Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) reached in November/December at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been heavily criticized by ECA-Watch, an international network of environment, development, human rights and labour groups. View a copy of the so-called “Recommendation on Common Approaches” in light of recent case studies critiquing many ECA-backed projects: " Race to the Bottom II ." 

 

3) Support Walhi's Call for Disclosure of Loan Agreement for Koto Panjang Dam Project:

http://www.foei.org/cyberaction/kotopanjang.html

The Indonesian NGO, Walhi (Friends of the Earth, Indonesia), is calling for letters to the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) and other financial institutions, demanding disclosure of the loan agreement for the Koto Panjang Dam Project. The call for letters parallels a lawsuit representing approximately 8,400 Sumatrans against ODA for human rights violation and environmental destruction.

 

4) Implementation of the ECG's Action Statement Of December 2000 on Export Credit Support: Comments on Best Practices Proposals: A Presentation to the ECG: A Presentation to the ECG by Michael H. Wiehen Member of the Advisory Council, Transparency International
November 4, 2003

 

5) Submission of the Australian NGO, Aid/Watch, to the Review of the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) Environmental Guidelines: http://www.aidwatch.org.au/index.php?current=38

AID/WATCH and the Environmental Defender's Office submission to EFIC concerning the agency's review of its environmental guidelines.

 

6) New Belgian NGO Website on ECA Reform

http://www.proyectogato.be/exportcreditandinsuranceagencies.htm

The Belgian NGO, Proyecto Gato, has launched a new website on ECA reform. The website goes in detail on the OECD Guidelines, National Contact Point, Common Approaches, with links to reports, letters and others ECA – Watch groups.

 

 

7) Secretive ECAs Increasingly Subject to Public Scrutiny
http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/1641.cfm

11 Nov. 2003 Just as World Trade Organization talks at Cancun industrialized democracies meet in Paris to discuss strengthening ecological and human-rights guidelines for ECAs. ECAs' normally secretive operations are being subjected to public scrutiny.

 

8) Les Exportateurs Sur La Sellette

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/recherche_resumedoc/1,13-0,37-829070,0.html

27 Nov. 2003 Le Monde reports on Export Credit Group Agreement

 

9) U.S., Allies Set Environment Pact; Boon Is Seen to Overseas

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107110761221485600,00.ht

11 Dec 2003 Wall Street Journal article on Export Credit Group Agreement

 

10) US Ex-Im Bank Oks $150 Mln Loan for Caspian Pipeline

http://www.forbes.com/business/energy/newswire/2003/12/30/rtr1194354.html

12 Dec. 2003 The U.S. Export Import Bank approved $160 million in repayment loan guarantees to U.S. companies to supply engineering services, control systems, and pump systems to the $3.4 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project.

 

11) US Ex-Im Bank Loan to Salvage Textile Company in the U.S. North-East

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=31308

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2065-2004Jan8.html

9 Jan. 2004 U.S. Export-Import Bank gave more favorable terms for a $35 million loan to Malden Mills, a textile company located in Massachusetts whose owners have been trying to pull out of bankruptcy court. Proponents claim the loan could help save 1,200 local jobs.

 

12) ECAs Financing Business in Iraq

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/business/12_01_04_c.asp

12 Jan. 2004 The Bush administration has assigned $18.6 billion for reconstruction in Iraq, one-third of which will be allocated to mega infrastructure projects, while two-thirds will be spent to carry out projects on health, roads, bridges and other related efforts. The U.S. Ex-Im Bank will issue letters of credit for exporters.

 

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040105&s=klein

18 Dec. 2003 OPIC is poised to provide political risk insurance to principally U.S. companies to assuage the fears of shell-shocked investors. Ostensibly intended to support U.S. foreign policy, OPIC may leave U.S. taxpayers holding the bag.

 

13) JBIC to Back Investments for Azadegan Oil Field in Iran

http://www.asahi.com/english/business/TKY200401160144.html

16 Jan. 2004 Japan has proposed extending more than $1 billion in loans to Iran through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to develop the Azadegan oil field. Azadegan is located near the Iraqi border, is one of the Middle East's largest untapped reserves, and is estimated to hold 26 billion barrels of oil. Firms involved include Inpex Corp., Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Tomen Corp., and Royal Dutch/Shell Group.

 

14) KEXIM Subsidizing South Korea Shipyards

http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200401/03b281c0-a25c-4ac3-94a6-42ad06309006.htm

16 Jan. 2004 EU regulators to renew laws allowing members to offer aid payments to their shipyards involved in constructing tankers carrying gas, chemicals and containers. The move is a direct result of a legal dispute in which Brussels accuses South Korea of pricing ships below manufacture cost and ‘dumping' them on EU territory. The low prices are due to subsidies arrived through a bi-lateral agreement between the shipyards and state-owned Korean Export-Import Bank (KEXIM).

 

15) Hungary to Subsidize Industrial Exports Through Aid Loans

http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Hung&pg=0&id=5681383&req =

16 Jan. 2004 The Hungarian Export-Import Bank will provide loans to a list of countries, compiled by the OECD, whose per capita GDP does not exceed USD 3000 per year. The countries will use the loans to finance projects or products supplied by Hungarian exporters.

 

16) Study of Environmental and Social Standards in Export Credit

December 2003 This study by Ecologic focuses on the incorporation of environmental and social standards into export credit agencies' lending practices associated with large dams. The study was commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), a government agency.

 

17) Exim Bank Files Lawsuit Against Asia Pulp and Paper

http://www.exim.gov/pressrelease.cfm/8D1E661E-A307-DFA9-AE7282999A4B618F/

23 October 2003 The U.S Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York filed a lawsuit today on behalf of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) against Asia Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. (APP) and three of its operating subsidiaries located in Indonesia. Ex-Im Bank is seeking to recover approximately $104 million of credits.

 

2003 What's New Items

In this issue:

ECA Campaign Action:

1) ECA-Watch Press Release:  Groups Blast Weak OECD Agreement on Environment

Dec. 11, 2003  A common agreement among Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), likely to be adopted today at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has been heavily criticized by ECA-Watch, an international network of environment, development, human rights and labour groups.

2)  Campaigners Lambast ECAs Meeting in Paris, France and launch Race to the Bottom II

September 15, 2003  As government negotiations reopen September 16 at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the environmental guidelines for Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), an international coalition of NGOs has launched a report entitled " Race to the Bottom II ."  The report is highly critical of the current draft environmental framework."  See also ECA-WATCH Press Release: Export Credit Agencies Continue Ecological and Social Race to the Bottom: International Report Spotlights Problems as OECD Negotiations Reopen "

3) Presentation to the Export Credit Group of the OECD by Friends of the Earth, France:  " Export Credits and Sustainable Development:   How to Minimize Risks and Save Costs? "

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1) Cartagena Declaration : On September 16-18, 2003, the International Conference of Environmental Rights and Human Rights was held in Cartagena, Colombia. Two hundred and fifty delegates from environmental organisations, NGOs and social movements consider the way in which many governments promote the virtues of 'free' trade predominantly benefits transnational corporations and the global economic elite, whilst wars proliferate and the people and nations of the south become ever poorer. The resulting Cartagena Declaration finds, inter alia , that Export Credit Agencies and similar institutions do not take responsibility for the social, political and ecological consequences of their financial operations. For more information: Janneke Bruil, Friends of the Earth International, janneke@foei.org

 

2) Motupore Declaration: On July 18, 2003, landowners and mine affected communities from Papua New Guinea gathered to organize against ongoing violations of human rights and environmental destruction of mining in the region, in particular cases of the Bougainville, Ok Tedi, Porgera, Misima, Lihir and Tolukuma mines. The resulting Cartagena Declaration calls for, inter alia, International Finance Institutions and Export Credit Agencies such as the Australian Export Finance Insurance Corporation (EFIC) to provide no more public funding for any new mining in PNG, and for existing projects to report on their social and environmental impacts as they do in their financial reporting. For more information: Damien Ase, Celcor-FOE Papua New Guinea, dase@celcor.org.pg

 

3) Chatham House ECA Seminar: On September 3-4 2003, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, U.K. and FERN hosted an expert-level multi-stakeholder forum on environmental and social reforms for Export Credit Agencies. While acknowledging the role that ECAs play in the potential for sustainable development, participants found reforms of these institutions are needed including those related to policy coherence, transparency, bribery and corruption, debt, environmental due diligence, accountability, and national and international legal frameworks. For a copy of the Chair's Summary, contact: conferences@riia.org , or Saskia Ozinga at FERN, saskia@nciucn.nl .

 

4) Hollywood and Ecologists Unite Against Camisea: Bianca Jagger, Sting, Ruben Blades, Kevin Bacon, Susan Sarandon, Chevy Chase and other entertainers joined Friends of the Earth, Amazon Watch, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense, Rainforest Action Network, Bank Information Center, Reform the World Bank Campaign, Amazon Alliance and others to halt public financing for the calamitous Camisea gas pipeline in Peru. On August 28, 2003, the U.S. Export-Import Bank rejected a request for US$200 million in financing of the project, however on September 10, 2003, the Inter-American Development Bank approved US$135 million for the project.

http://www.foe.org/camps/intl/institutions/camisea.htm

http://www.amazonwatch.org

http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/headline.cfm?newsid=558

http://www.bicusa.org/lac/camisea_project_page.htm

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/pressrelease.cfm?ContentID=2842

http://www.mail-archive.com/ecologia@peacelink.it/msg00420.html

http://www.ran.org/news/newsitem.php?id=812&area=home

http://www.amazonalliance.org/

 

5) Sakhalin II “may spell ecological disaster”: The Guardian reports that the huge Sakhalin II oil and gas project on and off-shore Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East will be one of the largest energy projects of its kind in the world, but ecologists fear that, with the island's rich fisheries resource and high earthquake risk, the project “may spell environmental disaster.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4740072-103681,00.html

 

6) GAO on ECAs: In September, 2003, The U.S. Government's General Accounting Office released a detailed report entitled, Export Credit Agencies: Movement Toward

Common Environmental Guidelines, but National Differences Remain . The report finds, inter alia , that ECAs have made some progress in developing environmental guidelines and are moving toward common environmental review practices, but that important differences in their practices remain. The report notes that some U.S. businesses are concerned about the lack of commonality among ECA environmental policies and many are not on a par with those of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank). However, it finds that their specific concerns are largely anecdotal, difficult to confirm, and that there is only limited evidence Exim Bank's guidelines have negatively affected U.S. Exports. The report notes that energy projects are a significant part of the portfolio of Exim Bank and other ECAs, and it touches on Exim Banks decision to decline financing for the controversial Camisea project in Peru. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d031093.pdf

 

 

7) Export Credit Agencies to Fund Pipelines in Russia

French Societe Generale, Vneshtorgbank, Belgian OND, French COFACE and Cat Financial financed a deal for Caterpillar Co. to supply Stroitransgaz construction machinery worth $9.18 million to construct pipelines in various regions of Russia.

http://www.akm.ru/eng/news/2003/september/05/ns1084894.htm

 

8) U.S. Export-Import Bank Rejects Funding Peru's Controversial Camisea Pipeline

In a 2-1 vote the Bank's board of directors voted against helping to fund the pipeline project in an area of the Amazon jungle about 700 miles east of Lima, believed to hold 13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, along with oil, because two guidelines for protecting ecological resources and avoiding harm to indigenous peoples were not met. Two companies with close ties to the Bush administration, who will not get financing are Hunt Oil Co. and Halliburton Co. While Peruvian officials claim the project, already about 70 percent complete, is crucial to gaining energy independence and paying down the country's debt, environmentalists and human rights groups lobbied banking officials in Washington, warning that the project could destroy one of the world's most biologically diverse and wild rain forests and negatively impact indigenous people living in the Nahua-Kugapakori Reserve, and the Paracus National Marine Reserve, the only marine sanctuary in Peru for endangered species.

http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/958969.asp?cp1=1

 

9) Andean Economic Development Corporation and the Inter-American Development Bank Approve Loans for Peru's Camisea Pipeline Project

The Peruvian Government was heartened the second week of September when the Andean Economic Development Corporation agreed to a $75 million loan and the IDC approved a $135 million loan for a pipeline project in Peru that critics argue put economic benefits before the environment and the livelihood of indigenous people living in the project area. “We never thought the parties would go ahead and actually build a plant in the reserve's buffer zone,” said Francis Grant-Suttie, director of Private Sector Initiatives for the World Wildlife Fund.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/6765877.htm?template=contentModules/pri

 

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In this issue:

Campaigners Lambast ECAs Meeting in Paris, France
" PRESS RELEASE:Export Credit Agencies Continue Ecological and Social Race to the Bottom: International Report Spotlights Problems as OECD Negotiations Reopen "
"As government negotiations reopen September 16 at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the environmental guidelines for Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), an international coalition of NGOs has launched a report entitled " Race to the Bottom II ." The report is highly critical of the current draft environmental framework."

" Race to the Bottom, Take II ," the Late Breaking ECA Campaign Report now online!
"Significantly destructive projects that violate host country law, international environmental standards and international human rights and labor laws continue to be considered and supported by ECAs. This report presents a civil society proposal for reforming the OECD Common Approaches on Enviornment and supports the proposal with nine case studies of ECA-backed projects from all over the world."

"Export Credits and Sustainable Development:

How to minimize risks and save costs?"   A presentation to the Export Credit Group of the OECD by Friends of the Earth, France.

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1) Three Gorges Opens Second Round of Bidding
The China Three Gorges Project Corporation has just opened a second major round of bidding for four turbine and generating units for the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, says International Rivers Network. Among other risks, the ECA-backed Three Gorges Dam reservoir will forcibly displace between 1.2 million and 1.9 million people, and submerge 19 cities and 326 towns. For more details and to take action see www.irn.org, and ECA-Watch action alert.

2) Canadian NGOs Call for Moratorium on Large Dams
The Canadian NGO, Halifax Initiative, rallied over 100 organizations from 32 countries to send a letter on June 12 to the President of the International Commission on Dams (ICOLD). Coinciding with the 21st Congress of ICOLD in Montreal, the letter asks the President of ICOLD to implement the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams into ICOLD's Code of Ethics. On the same day, Halifax Initiative issued a report, Damming Evidence: Canada and the World Commission Dams, which questions why Canada supported the WCD yet failed to follow its recommendations, and now promotes large dam building through CIDA, the Canadian development agency, and Export Development Canada, the Canadian ECA.
NGO letter and report both available at www.halifaxinitiative.org. Also see this article printed in the Globe and Mail.

3) British ECA Turns "Blind Eye" to Corruption
The Corner House, a think-tank campaigning for environmental and social justice, releases a report examining nine projects which the department has backed in the past two decades. The report concludes that there has been the British ECA, Export Credit Guarantee Department, has permitted corrupt practice to go unpunished," reports Guardian Unlimited.

4) Amnesty International Calls for Moratorium on BTC Pipeline
Amnesty International says the Host Country Agreements (HGAs; the contracts between project sponsor and governments) on the huge Baku-T'Blisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline blatantly disregards the European Commission on Human Rights. A legal advisor to Amnesty says the HGAs represent "a disturbing political and legal precedent," reports Guardian Unlimited.
See related stories at The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire and the Kurdish Media News Service.

5) Christian Aid Calls For Government to Clamp Down on Big Oil
Citing what it calls a "lethal oil cocktail, the campaigning organization Christian Aid recommends government oversight oil company projects including transparency of oil revenues to host governments, reports Guardian Unlimited. International Finance Institutions including ECAs should help ensure these reforms are met.


ECAs in the News:

1) Australian ECA to Review its Environmental Policy
The Australian ECA, Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC), will undertake a review of its environmental policy from May 2003 to February 2004.

2) Export Credit Group Publishes Survey on Bribery
On 21st May, 2003, the OECD Export Credit Group published an updated version of a survey on measures taken to combat bribery.

3) U.S. OPIC Twists Ghana's Arm
The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation suspends all support for projects in Ghana pending outcome of dispute over a power contract for a Kaiser Aluminum processing plant, reports AllAfrica. The dispute centers around a decades old contract setting the price that Kaiser Aluminum's subsidiary, Valco, at 1.1 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour to 3 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour. Ghana claims the cost of producing power has rison to 6.5 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour.

4) Italy and France ECA-Backed Fertilizer Plant to Use Youths
The ECA-backed Oman-India fertilizer project will train youths to run its ammonia and urea plant, reports the Times of Oman. Partners in the project are partially supported with $120 million from the Italian ECA, SACE, and $115 million from the French ECA, Coface.

5) ECA Creditors Propose New Deal for Asia Pulp and Paper Debt
Nine ECA creditors met in Stockholm Sweden recently to discuss a proposal for restructuring Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) debt, reports United Press International. ECAs say they are owed $960 million of the $6.7 billion owed by APP. Overall, APP is said to have defaulted on $13.9 billion in debt. APP is also responsible for extensive deforestation of forests and of related depravation of human rights in Indonesia.
See also problems > pulp and paper for background on related NGO ECA reform efforts in Indonesia.

6) Camisea Workers Kidnapped
Over 70 employees working for an Argentinean company on the Camisea gas pipeline project in Peru were freed from heavily armed kidnappers demanding $1 million and explosives, reports CNN. [Note: The Camisea pipeline project is being considered for support by ECAs including the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Camisea is otherwise highly controversial due its penetration into irreplaceable primary tropical forests and territory of previously un-contacted people]

V2N6

1. BTC Pipeline under fire: Cornerhouse; PLATFORM; Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale; Kurdish Human Rights Project release a detailed fact-finding mission report on the controversial BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project, and call for an immediate moratorium on the project. According to the Mission, the pipeline not only breaches international standards but also threatens human rights abuses. The BTC pipeline is potentially supported by ECAs from the U.S. (Exim Bank), Italy (SACE), Britian (ECGD), France (COFACE), Germany (Hermes), Japan (JBIC).

2. Complaint filed on BTC Pipeline: Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale, Cornerhouse, FERN, Platform, Urgewald, WEED, Germanwatch, BUND, and several Friends of the Earth chapters file simultanious claims British, French, German, Italian, and U.S. governments charging that BP and its consortium partners in the proposed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline are breaching the OECD's "Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises." (French version)

3. Transparency International on ECAs and bribery: Transparency International critiques the OECD Export Credit Group 2002 Survey on Measures Taken to Combat Bribery in Officially Supported Export Credits

4. Soros report calls for oil revenue transparency: The Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute has released a report calling for accountability, transparency, and public oversight in the oil and natural gas industries of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The report, "Caspian Oil Windfalls: Who Will Benefit?" contains proposed reforms for ECAs and International Finance Institutions, including requiring transparency of revenues and of future concession contracts. Available at http://www.eurasianet.org/caspian.oil.windfalls/

ECAs in the News:

1. Three Gorges Dam reservoir flooding, with help from Canadian ECA: CBC Commentary interviews Halifax Initiative's Fraser Reilly-King on the environmental, social and human rights crisis created by the inundation behind the Three Gorges Dam in China, financed in part by the Canadian ECA, the Export Development Canada. [transcript posted on ECA-Global 04/15/03]
2. British ECA head claims sustainable development at heart of their mission: Business Credit Management reports that Vivian Brown, head of the British ECA, the ECGD, claims the agency is committed to keeping "sustainable development is at the heart of its work." ECGD says it is making available some £50 million (GBP) of cover for the UK renewable energy sector, and initiating new transparency measures.
3. ...while British ECA takes "realistic" line on Iraqi debt: The Daily Telegraph reports on the British ECGD's approach to Iraqi debt.
4. Dutch Ministry of Finance makes ODA pay for ECA debt: The Dutch newspaper, Trouw, reports that the Dutch Finance Ministry wrongly booked between EUR 18-35 million to the country's ODA budget for ECA-related debts. [Posted to ECA-Global 05/15/03]
5. San Roque faces threats of sabotage: Sun Star reports that the controversial San Roque Dam will soon begin power generation amidst threats of sabatoge by the New People's Army. The Japanese ECA, JBIC, faces calls from local and international NGOs to not release the balance of financing of the dam due to massive displacement and other negative impacts on local indigenous people.
6. India's ECA structures to expand: India's commerce ministry will increase the equity base of its two export credit facilities, the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) and Exim Bank, to allow them to take on larger exposures.

V2N5

1) US OPIC and Exim Bank Financed Saddam's Iraq: A new report by the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network reveals that the U.S. Ex-Im Bank and OPIC financed oil projects in Iraq while turning a blind eye to evidence of the Iraqi regime's chemical weapons. "Crude Vision: How Oil Interests Obscured US Government Focus on Chemical Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein" was featured on National Public Radio and profiles skullduggery of current and former U.S. Government officials.

2) IRN: Three Gorges to Fill Despite Human Rights Crisis: A new report by International Rivers Network indicates that the reservoir of the controversial Three Gorges Dam in China's Yangtze Valley will start filling on April 10, aggravating already serious human rights problems in the resettlement areas. The report documents that the resettlement problems of this ECA-backed dam have not been resolved, and that project construction is linked to systematic human rights violations.

3) NGOs from seven countries call on European Union Commissioner Wallstrom to reafirm the committment to ECA reform at the upcoming Angers G-8 Environment Summit.

4) NADI Asks: Why Should Common People Pay for Bad ECA Debt
A new paper by NADI details the massive ECA-backed pulp and paper sector failure in Indonesia. The report highlights the environmental, social and human rights impacts of the failure, and explores the current struggle over the shuffling of debt between the private and public sector creditors in Indonesia and abroad (in particular, the ECAs). The report contains key recommendations for ECAs to mend their ways.

5) Campaigners Urge Moratorium on BP Pipeline: Baku Ceyhan Campaigners have called for a moratorium on a controversial BP-led oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. Visiting the Turkish section of the Baku-T'bilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, they uncovered a pattern of constant surveillance, evident human rights abuses and manifest lack of freedom of expression.

6) ECAs' Incoherent Role in Climate Change Policy: A new policy paper by Sustainable Energy and Economy Network includes a proposal that ECA financing for fossil fuels be treated as a subsidy.


ECAs in the News:

1) ECGD "Hush-Hush" on Iraqi Chemical Plant : The Guardian reports 3/19/03 that UK Ministers knew that a chlorine plant supported in the 1980s by the UK ECA, ECGD, "was likely to be used for mustard and nerve gas production." The Guardian reports that the ECGD was instructed to keep details of the deal secret.

2) 4000 Indonesians to sue JBIC Over Destructive Dam: Planetark reports on 3/27/03 that over 4000 Indonesians plan to sue two Japanese agencies, the Overseas Development Agency and the Japanese Bank for Reconstruction and Development (JBIC), over their financing of a destructive dam in Sumatra. Claiming 5 million yen each in compensation, the plaintiffs say the Kotopanjang Dam devastated the natural environment, and denied them of water supplies and job opportunities in their area of resettlement.

3) BTC Fact-Finders Harassed by Turkish Police: OneWorld reports on 3/25/03 that NGOs on a fact-finding mission investigating on the proposed Baku-T'blisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in Eastern Turkey "had been constantly followed, harassed, and detained by Turkish police as it attempted to gather information and interview residents about the situation in the region." The proposed BTC pipeline is being considered for financing by the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

4) ECGD Snoops for Oil Deals in Iran: M-2 Presswire reports that the UK ECA, the ECGD, recently took a ten-day fact-finding mission to Iran at the invitation of Iran's National Petrochemical Company.

5) ECA Angst on APP: AP World reports on 03/25/03 that the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency has rejected a US$ 6.7 billion debt restructuring proposal from foreign creditors for the Asia Pulp and Paper Co. ECAs, from the U.S., Japan and European countries are among the creditors, proposed a separate plan, and urged Jakarta to intervene. See also NADI Asks: Why Should Common People Pay for Bad ECA Debt for more details on the social and environmental consequence of this ECA-backed debacle.

V2N4

1) Exim and Saddam:

The Washington Post recently ran a story documenting the US' key role in helping Saddam Hussein obtain chemical weapon capabilities in the 1980s and early '90s. The article indicates that US Export-Import Bank (Exim) apparently supported the export of potentially lethal pesticides to Iraq, citing an Ex-Im Bank memo that states that there was "'no reason' to stop the sale, despite evidence that the pesticides were 'highly toxic' to humans and would cause death 'from asphyxiation.'"

ECGD and Saddam:

During the 1980s, the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department likely helped finance chemical weapons in Iraq through its support in a chemical factory, according to the Guardian.

As the US and UK search the world around for financiers of weapons of mass destruction...

2) GIEK Supported Norwegian Ship Exports Brings Ecuadorian debt:

The Ecuadorian NGO, Centro De Derechos Economicos Y Sociales (CDES) has made its Nov. 2002 report, "Illegitimate Debts and Human Rights, available on its website in both English and Spanish. The report documents how credits from the Norwegian Guarantee Institute for Exports Credits (GIEK) supported the export of four Norwegian ships to Equator, resulting in sovereign debt for the country. Coincidentally, the location of these ships remains unknown. The report lays out "proposals and arguments in favor of the cancellation of illegitimate debts, arguing for the possibility of independent international arbitration and mediation."

Read the report in English or Spanish.

3) NGOs Call On IDB and Exim Bank to Drop Camesea Project:

On February 25, 2003, a coalition of environmental and human rights NGOs issued a comprehensive statement calling on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to reject financing for the Camesea oil and gas project in Brazil. The Camesea project, under consideration by IDB and US Export-Import Bank, threatens "an area recognized globally for its spectacular biodiversity and for being home to isolated and uncontacted indigenous peoples."

http://www.foe.org/new/releases/0203camisea.html

4) ECAs Block APP Debt Restructuring, while PT Paiton Debt Restructuring Proceeds:

ECAs from Europe and Canada have threatened to block a proposed restructuring of the multi-billion dollar debt owed by the Singapore-based Asia Pulp and Paper, according to the February 7, 2003 Financial Times. ECAs collectively provided over billions in financing for APP, an Asian pulp and paper giant owned by Suharto cronies that has stripped vast areas of
rainforest and sparked clashes with native people. For more info, see Case Study: Export Credit Agency Finance in Indonesia, by Titi Soentoro and Stephanie Fried.

Meanwhile, United Press International reported on March 11, 2003 that PT Paiton Energy, another Suharto era ECA-backed project debacle in Indonesia, is also restructuring its debt with ECAs. U.S. Export-Import Bank, U.S. Overseas Private Investment Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance of Japan all helped finance this failed project. For more info, see Publicly Guaranteed Corruption: Corrupt Power Projects and the Responsibility of Export Credit Agencies in Indonesia, by Peter Bosshard (available on ECA-Watch website).

V2N3

I. What's New:

Country > EU
Key reforms needed for Export Credit Agencies
prepared by FERN

ECAs > Directory
Check out the new additions to our listings of ECAs by country--complete with contact information and websites.

Press > ECAs in the News

Risky gold mine in Laos gets Australian public money

Beyond Three Gorges

V2N2

I. What's New:

Problems > Human Rights
Linking Investment and Human Rights:
the case of export credit agencies

This report shares some initial thoughts on the human rights impacts of export-financed projects. It explores different types of impact assessments, and their applicability to ECAs, and identifies mechanisms for linking ECA investments more explicitly to human rights.

Press > ECAs in the News

HSBC signs $108 mln export credit with Iran's NPC

NLNG Gets N30 Bn Export Guarantee for Expansion

Rolls-Royce Accused of Bribery:
Angry investors want a court to hear allegations that the British company offered a multi-million pay-off for an Indian power station contract

The questions taxpayers must ask

V2N1

I. What's New:

Country > China
Human rights violations in the Three Gorges Project
A sign-on letter to governments and export credit agencies: To the ministers for economic affairs and the chairs of the export credit agencies of Brazil, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Country > Bolivia
Watch the Video produced by Amazon Watch:
Dramatic footage of Enron and Shell's Bolivian pipelines, which are destroying the Chiquitano Forest and Pantanal wetlands...

Country> Austria
Behind Closed Doors: A Critical Survey of the Austrian Official Export Supporting System []
WWF Austria, Erlassjahr 2000 Austria, and Greenpeace Austria

Press > Press Releases
Media Release from International Rivers Network:
Press release/announcement of new report: Eyewitness Report Documents Serious Human Rights Abuses in Three Gorges Project

II. Foreign Language Materials:

In Spanish:
Este video demuestra el fracaso por parte de Enron, Shell y OPIC en evitar que la ruta del gasoducto Cuiaba pase por medio del Bosque Chiquitano y el Pantanal...


 

2002 What's New Items

V1N10

. What's New:

Country > Bolivia
Read the Report:
Cuiabá Gas Pipeline: Social and Environmental Impacts on the Chiquitano Forest “Indigenous Organizations' Monitoring Report” []

Issues > Oil Gas & Mining
A new section to the site, currently featuring information and documents about Inco's nickel and cobalt mining operations in New Caledonia...

Press > Press Releases
Media Release from Environmental Defense: CONTROVERSIAL NICKEL MINE SHUT DOWN PENDING REVIEW Indigenous Leaders, Environmentalists, Financial Analysts Raise Environmental Concerns And Questions About Inco's Corporate Credibility

II. Foreign Language Materials:

In Spanish: Gasoducto Cuiabá: Impactos Sociales y Ambientales en el Bosque Chiquitano “Informe de los Pueblos Indígenas” []

In French: MARCHÉ CONCLU? Inco/Goro Nickel, le processus de l' étude d'impact sur l’environnement, et le financement publique en Kanaky/Nouvelle Calédonie
[]

V1N9

I. What's New:

County > Peru
NGO Statement on the Camisea Project

October 2002 - Amazon Watch, Bank Information Center, Environmental Defense, Friends of the Earth, Institute for Policy Studies, Rainforest Action Network

Country > European Union
The new addition of the European Union as a catagory for ECA related content. Look here for relevant contacts (articles and news coming soon)


II. Foreign Language Materials:

German language fact sheets on Hermes now available for download!
By Urgewald and WEED

V1N8

I. What's New:

"The ECAs in the Press" Special

County > United Kingdom

ECGD will demand green credentials
October 23, 2002 - Insurance Day

UK Government UK Export Credit Agency promotes tougher stance on environmental and social impacts of projects
October 22, 2002 - M2 Presswire

Country > US:

U.S. agency's authority to finance dual-use exports renewed
October 15, 2002 - Aerospace Daily, By Marc Selinger

U.S. weans itself off oil from Mideast; Expands search for new sources
October 14, 2002 - The Washington Times, By Timothy Burn

II. Foreign Language Materials:

Introductory Brochure on ECAs in Finnish now available for download!
By The Finnish ECA Campaign

V1N7

I. What's New:

County < Indonesia: West Seno Begins Spreading Disaster for Community

"The West Seno Project, hailed by Unocal as bringing in revenues of Rp 1 trillion for East Kalimantan in the future, has already begun to spread disaster for the environment and community in and around the Tangjung Santan shore, with an oil spill occurring at the Ranggas 6 well, approximately 75 kilometers out into the Makassar Strait..." [more]

Country < US: OPIC/IIE Letter and Memoradum

In August Environmental Defense and the AFL-CIO sent a letter and detailed memorandum to Fred Bergsten, head of the Institute for International Economics (IIE), cced to Peter Watson CEO of OPIC and relevant Congressional committee chairmen, expressing concerns about a study OPIC has commissioned IIE to do in anticipation of presenting the study in Congressional hearings in the next Congress on OPIC's reauthorization. The letter and dossier was sent on behalf of eight other national environment and development groups, including OXFAM America, Friends of the Earth, U.S., and Pacific Environment. The letter and memorandum express concerns about the one-sided methodology and approach of the study. Bruce Rich of Environmental Defense and Thea Lee of the AFL-CIO were the only representatives of civil society on a 30 person 'working group' that consisted mainly of OPIC's big banking and corporate clients. [more]

 

V1N6

I. What's New:

Corruption & Transparency: Canadian firm convicted of bribery for Lesotho Highlands Water Project

In a landmark decision, the High Court in Lesotho has convicted Acres International, a Canadian engineering consulting firm, of paying bribes to win contracts on the multi-billion dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Sentencing will take place on October 7th and 8th.
Acres was found to have paid $266,000 in bribes to Masupha Sole, the former chief executive of the LHWP. Earlier this year, Sole was sentenced to 18 years in prison for receiving bribes from Acres and a number of other multinationals, including the consortium of which Balfour Beatty, the UK construction giant, was a part. Spie Batignoles, the lead company in the consortium, is due to appear in court on bribery charges next year. Balfour Beatty received financial support from the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department.

Press release by Cornerhouse, UK

Press release by International Rivers Network

For more information, visit the section on the Lesotho corruption trials in the Odious Debts website, run by Probe International

Oakville engineering company braces for African bribery verdict: A tale of Swiss bank accounts and battered reputations unfolds in a courtroom in faraway Lesotho:

Tranparency or High Risks? a Study commissioned by The Finnish ECA Campaign

Submission from the Campaign Against Arms Trade to the International Development Committee's Inquiry into corruption []

Indonesia/US: OPIC-supported Offshore Oil drilling project in E. Kalimantan by UNOCAL

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has
agreed to loan US$350 million of US-taxpayer dollars to US-based Unocal Corporation for an offshore oil and gas field in Indonesia. The annual production yield has been projected at 145,000 barrels of oil. OPIC is a US- government agency that provides political risk insurance andfinancing to US corporations abroad. Unocal is a well-known and well-documented human rights abuser. Jaringan Advokasi Tambang (JATAM), an Indonesia-based mining watchdog, said in a press release, this is thekind of "arrogant behaviou that has been shown since the first time the company [Unocal] entered the Marangkayu region, with the evictions of the community at Semangkok village in 1970 to the shooting incidents of October 8, 2000, also known as "Dark Sunday".

Deceived Again? The "War Against Terrorism", OPIC, and UNOCAL Operations in East Kalimantan

"This 'War on Terrorism' initiative...was rushed ahead despite the fact that local communities in this deeply religious Muslim area have apparently been severely affected by pollution, loss of resource-dependent livelihood, and the climate of terror and intimidation associated with Unocal operations in East Kalimantan for decades, including the recent shootings & beatings. To all appearances, with 40 new wells in planning stages and two new proposed 60 kilometer-long pipelines, the climate of terror in coastal East Kalimantan is now poised to grow far worse." [more]

UNOCAL ADMITS TO INDONESIAN OIL SPILL: Environmental Defense Questions OPIC Support For Troubled Project In East Kalimantan

The Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project

The Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project located in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines, involves a financing from the US ECA, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) of Washington, DC. California Energy, one of the proponents of Casecnan project, got a support worth $250-million from OPIC. The amount includes a $ 100-million loan guarantee and up to $ 150-million in political risk insurance for the construction and operation of the plant, a run-of-the-river hydro facility. The project went on stream early this year. Freedom From Debt Coalition has produced a report on the controversial Casecnan project: "The Controversial Casecnan Project" by Maria Teresa Diokno-Pascual and Shalom MK Macli-ing.

UK: The ECGD and Arms Trade Support

Submission by the Campaign Against Arms Trade in response to the Export Credits Guarantee Department Review of its Mission and Status

US: Ex-Im's Dubious Renewable Energy Support

On September 17, 2002, the GAO (General Accounting Office) released its study of Export-Import Bank of the United States, on its financing of renewable energy projects as compared to fossil fuels. See http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d021024.pdf

IV. Foreign Language Materials:

The Dark World of the Export Credits (Finnish)
By Tove Selin, The Finnish ECA Campaign

This document presents first the IFIs and then the Finnish ECAs and similar institutions, then their transparency and environmental performance. In the end there is the demands of the ECA campaign and the history and action plan of the International and Finnish ECA Camapign.

V1N5

I. What's New:

Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the city of Boulder, Colorado, filed a suit on behalf of "members and citizens who are victims of global warming" against the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, both US ECAs." The plaintiffs' statement reads: "over $32 billion in financing and insurance for oil fields, pipelines and coal-fired power plants over the past 10 years without assessing their contribution to global warming and their impact on the U.S. environment." Check out www.climatelawsuit.org for more information!

Export Agencies Sued Over Warming
The Washington Post, August 27, 2002

Mayor of City of Boulder, Colorado, USA, responds to Daily editorial
- "The City of Boulder has recently adopted the Kyoto protocol emissions goals, and is developing an action plan to meet these targets. But we can't do it alone. As long as the government of
the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter refuses to address this issue, it cannot be solved. If this lawsuit helps to prod the Bush administration to do something about global climate change, it will be well worth it."

II. Current Highlights for this season is now up!
Country > Russia > Sakhalin II

Letter from NGOs to President of Overseas Private Investment Corproation, a US ECA regarding the Sakhalin II Project []

September 4, 2002
"Dr. Watson, Today's Wall Street Journal front page feature article, entitled, Stymied in Alaska, Oil Producers Flock To a Newer Frontier, indicates that the oil and gas projects off-shore of Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East are proving to be environmental and developmental catastrophes. As world leaders concerned about sustainable development conclude meetings at the Earth Summit in South Africa, we find it disconcerting that the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) continues support for the dubious and risky Sakhalin II project."

Letter from NGOs to Export-Import Bank of the United States regarding Sakhalin II Project
[ ] * footnotes may be viewed on the pdf file
September 4, 2002

NGO response Letter to Sakhalin Energy (SEIC) regarding the Gray Whale Protection Plan
August 15, 2002
(see the Plan here)

December 10, 2001
"The threat of impacts from a potential catastrophic oil spill associated with drilling and transport of oil, and of "normal" chronic daily discharges from the operation, are an unacceptably high risk to this environment and economy. The fact that Sakhalin II is in an area of very high seismic activity increases these risks still further."

Russian Roulette
SF Weekly : April 25, 2001
By John Dougherty
"The Western Pacific gray whale, once thought extinct, clings to life in a remote Siberian sea. Biologists fear their research is serving as cover for massive oil drilling that could wipe out this lost tribe once and for all."

Muddied Waters: A Survey of Offshore Oilfield Drilling Wastes and Disposal Techniques to Reduce the Ecological Impact of Sea Dumping
May 25, 2002
By Jonathan Willis, for Sakhalin Environment Watch

Time to improve Sakhalin oil spill prevention and response measures
Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections, February 21, 2000
By David Gordon
"Given the economic and environmental value of the Sea of Okhotsk, it is not surprising that many in Russia and Japan are concerned about pollution. Yet government authorities, international companies and public financial institutions have focused on speeding ahead with efforts to develop Sakhalin Island's oil and gas fields, while little attention has been paid to improving the island's capacity to prevent and respond to oil spills."

Sakhalin's Oil: Doing It Right - Applying Global Standards to Public Participation, Environmental Monitoring, Oil Spill Prevention & Response and Liability Standards in the Sakhalin Oblast of the Russian Federation
November 1999
By Dan Lawn, Rick Steiner & Jonathan Wills
In order to prevent a catastrophe such as the "Exxon Valdez" on Sakhalin Island, NGOs invited a team of independent experts to Sakhalin Island in order to review the island's spill prevention and response measures.

III. Media Clippings

Issues > Multinational Fora > WSSD:

Blair's summit rebuff to Bush
The Guardian, September 2, 2002 - Blair "also provided an incentive to British exporters of such technology by announcing £50m a year in export credit guarantees earmarked for renewables."

Enron: Press > ECAs in the Press

Enron's Pipeline Pain

La Paz : August, 2002
By Jimmy Langman
"At issue is the role of U.S. government agency Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC), which doled out US$3 billion to support Enron’s international projects during the 1990s."

Enron congressional hearings may force US agencies to "step up"
Institute for Policy Studies : August 01, 2002
By Jim Vallette
WASHINGTON : "Senators today continued to grill private financial institutions over their roles in Enron's rise and fall. The investigation could soon spill from the private to the public sector, where U.S. taxpayer-financed institutions continue to engage in a dangerous tango with Enron's overseas ambitions. These public financial institutions have doled out over $7 billion towards Enron-related projects since 1992."

Enron May Have Used Pipelines To Improperly Secure Late Loans
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL : August 02, 2002
By JOHN R. WILKE, REBECCA SMITH and JATHON SAPSFORDWASHINGTON -- "Just weeks before its bankruptcy, Enron Corp. may have improperly used two pipeline subsidiaries to secure a $1 billion loan from its bankers, federal regulators found in an audit of the fallen energy company."

Country > United States

A Guardian of Jobs or a 'Reverse Robin Hood'
New York Times : September 3, 2002
By LESLIE WAYNE
"At a time when the Bush administration says it wants to cut back on corporate welfare, the Export-Import bank, often called a "reverse Robin Hood" for taking money from American taxpayers and giving it to wealthy corporations, is growing. In June, while the public was focused on corporate scandals, President Bush quietly signed legislation to double the scope of the bank's operations and allow it to provide up to $100 billion in international trade assistance at any one time."

V1N4

I. What's New:

Japanese Involvement in Nickel Mining in Indonesia []

PT Inco is the foremost mining firm in Indonesia, whose mining activities with support from JBIC, a Japanese ECA, have caused significant human rights violations and environmental damage.

Double Destruction - The Role of ECAs in Indonesia's Forests: From Pulping the People to Looting for Palm Oil while Destroying U.S. Jobs

As the risks came home to roost, not only did Indonesian farmers and Indonesia's forests pay a heavy price, but the blow was felt harshly by American workers and their communities. [read more]

See more images from the ground in the Kalimantan Image Gallery - Photos and text by JATAM, August 2002

II. Endorsements:

From August 2002, new endorsements of the Jakarta Declaration will be introduced on:
www.eca-watch.org/goals/jakartadec_endorselist.html.
You too can submit your endorsement today, and show your solidarity with those working to protect our communities and natural resources against the harmful projects supported by ECAs! Contact us for more details.

New endorsement as of August 2002:
Asia Monitor Resource Center - the first endorsement from Hong Kong.

V1N3


Cernavoda II Nuclear Reactor in Romania: ECAs help export unsafe and unneeded nuclear

OPIC (US ECA) supports Unocal oil & gas field project in East Kalimantan : supporting human rights violation through UNOCAL


Translation:

Jakarta Declaration in Italian is now online

V1N2

I. Enron and OPIC in Bolivia:

Enron has been OPIC's top client since 1992, receiving more than US$1.7-billion for foreign projects. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) provided US$200-million of the US$600-million cost of the project. Environmental groups pointed out that OPIC was violating its own regulations that prohibit the finance of "infrastructure projects in primary tropical forests." [read more] [espanol]

II. Translation:

The campaign brochure on ECAs, "Export Credit Agencies Explained" in Portuguese is now available !

V1N1

By Countries:

A. Brazil

Angra 1,2 and 3 "Brazilan Nuclear Program" - Moscow, March 13, 2002
RUSSIA MAY BECOME INVOLVED INTO BRAZILIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM - EXPORT CREDITS FOR ANGRA 3 COMPLETION AND ANGRA 1, 2 MODERNIZATION PROMISED

B. Russia

Case Study: Sakhalin II
Excerpted from Leaking Operations: Environmental Consequences of World Bank and EBRD Involvement in the Russian Oil Sector, by Irina Baranova, CEE Bankwatch Network 2001.

March 13, 2002
Angra 1,2 and 3 "Brazilan Nuclear Program," Moscow - RUSSIA MAY BECOME INVOLVED INTO BRAZILIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM - EXPORT CREDITS FOR ANGRA 3 COMPLETION AND ANGRA 1, 2 MODERNIZATION PROMISED

C. Uganda

Test case Bujagali: Export credit agencies have recognized that the Bujagali dam in Uganda does not make economic sense. Funding the project would undermine the credibility of Nordic development policies. (The following op-ed piece appears in "Development Today", the Scandinavian journal on development policy, on 17 May 2002.)
Opinion - By Peter Bosshard

D. United Kingdom

Papers prepared for UK Seminar on Export Credit Agency Reform - "Beyond Business Principles" House of Commons, May 23, 2002 as follows:
-Recommendations from Friends of the Earth
to the ECGD regarding Sustainable Energy and Climate Change
By Kate Hampton, International Coordinator, Climate Change Campaign, Friends of the Earth UK
-The case for removing arms from the ECGD's portfolio
By Ann Feltham, Campaign Againstv Arms Trade and Michael Bartlett, Religious Society of Friends
-"Still Underwriting Corruption? The ECGD’s recent record"
By Susan Hawley for The Corner House
-Call for full disclosure of revenues to all national governments by transnational natural resource companies and related national subsidiaries
and business partners
By Global Witness
-Recommendations for the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) on Debt and Export Credits
By Romilly Greenhill, Jubilee Research
-The ECGD and the Human Rights Act
By Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project, and Nicholas Hildyard, The Corner House
-COMBATING CORRUPTION - RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE UK EXPORT CREDIT GUARANTEE AGENCY
BY Public Services Ineternational Research Unit (PSIRU), Kirstine Drew, UNICORN - A Global Unions Anti-corruption Network

By Issues:

E. Arms Trade

Paper for UK Seminar on Export Credit Agency Reform - "Beyond Business Principles" House of Commons, May 23, 2002: The case for removing arms from the ECGD's portfolio
By Ann Feltham, Campaign Againstv Arms Trade and Michael Bartlett, Religious Society of Friends

January 2002
Submission from Campagin Against Arms Trade (CAAT) to the Foreign Affairs Committee's Inquiry into the United Kingdom's relations with Turkey with reference to Turkey's role in European defence structures and its prospect for accession to the European Union
By Ann Feltham, CAAT

F. Energy & Climate Change

Paper for UK Seminar on Export Credit Agency Reform - "Beyond Business Principles" House of Commons, May 23, 2002; Recommendations from Friends of the Earth
to the ECGD regarding Sustainable Energy and Climate Change
By Kate Hampton, International Coordinator, Climate Change Campaign, Friends of the Earth UK

II. New Uploads!

A. Canada

Export Development Corporation is currently considering financing the unneeded, uneconomic, and unsafe Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania. An independent review of EDC's fatally flawed environmental review of this reactor has been released. [read more (Probe International site)]

B. Turkey

YUSUFELI PROJECT VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
International Fact Finding Mission releases preliminary report
The planned Yusufeli Hydroelectric in Turkey project violates international stanards on resettlement, cultural heritage, international waterways and environmental assessment, according to the preliminary report of an international fact finding Mission which recently returned from the region. The Mission calls on the Export Credit Agencies which are considering the project to refuse support. The Mission consisted of representatives of Corner House, Friends of the Earth, Kurdish Human Rights Project, Amis de la Terre, France Liberte and Ilisu Dam Campaign.

C. Multinational Fora

16th May 2002
Paris - OECD DELIBERATELY IGNORES ITS COMMITMENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL REFORM OF EXPORT CREDITS
"OECD governments do not know how to move forward with Export credits reform.They preferred to ignore the failure of the ECG negotiations and just to go on stating the same old rethorics on sustainable development promotion. The OECD lacks credibility as it is incapable of integrating the basic internationally recognised environmental regulations in global trade and investment."

III. New Translations

A. Russian:

Excerpts of "Export Credit Agency Finance in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela " By Bruce Rich, Stephan Schwartzman, Aaron Goldzimer, and Amy Boone, Environmental Defense, From: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/programs/International/ECA/southamerica.html

IV. Other

See the newly modified (and extended) list of actively participating NGOs in ECA Watch and the Jakarta Declaration Endorsement

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