(Mining Technology, London, 3 October 2017) GoviEx Uranium has received expressions of interest from export credit agencies and project finance banks to arrange $220m of senior debt financing for the construction of the Madaouela uranium project in Niger. Conditions for the debt financing include long-term off-take contracts to be signed with nuclear utility counterparties, as well as export credit agency insurance cover being in-place, depending on the nationality of either the off-take and/or procurement counterparties. [Niger exports enough uranium to France to generate 50 per cent of the latter’s electricity supply, but ordinary Nigeriens reap little benefit from France’s control of their country’s uranium resources, with over three-fifths of the population living below the poverty line and reports of radioactive contamination of water, air and soil by multinational mining operations. Recent US press reports ask if US troops died in Niger protecting French and Chinese uranium?]
Canada
Boeing took a foreign firm to task over subsidies. Critics say Boeing gets ECA and other help, too.
(Washington Post, Washington, 28 September 2017) The Commerce Department signaled its intent to impose a 219 percent tariff on Canadian-made jetliners, claiming aircraft maker Bombardier has been unfairly propped up by the Canadian government… But critics of the decision say Boeing itself benefits from its own form of government support, which includes federal contracts and tax breaks from state governments in the United States — a reflection of how U.S. corporations are also dependent on government policies, contracts, decisions and in some cases direct financial inducements in their attempts to remain internationally competitive… Others argue that the U.S. Export-Import Bank indirectly facilitates Boeing’s sales abroad, because the bank’s loans effectively allow foreign airlines to purchase Boeing jets at a discount.
EDC backed Bombardier sale to Zuma allies accused of corruption
(Globe & Mail, Johannesburg, 3 August 2017) The Canadian government’s export agency gave $41-million (U.S.) in financing to help Bombardier Inc. sell a luxury jet to the controversial tycoons at the heart of a South African scandal over alleged high-level corruption, leaked e-mails show. Export Development Canada, a Crown corporation, provided the money to a company owned by the Gupta family to help it buy a $52-million Global 6000 jet from Bombardier, the e-mails show. The powerful Gupta family, which has close connections to South African President Jacob Zuma and a business partnership with the President’s son, is embroiled in an escalating scandal over widespread allegations of corruption and political influence. The scandal has forced Mr. Zuma to face a non-confidence vote in Parliament on Aug. 8. Critics are asking how the $41-million (U.S.) financing deal was authorized by Export Development Canada, since the borrowers – the politically powerful Gupta family of South Africa – have been surrounded by corruption allegations and investigations for the past seven years. But EDC says it cannot explain anything about the transaction.
Is EDC complicit in support of foreseeable human rights violations?
(Globe and Mail, Toronto, 21 September 2016) In 2015 Netsweeper Inc. of Waterloo Ontario, with support from Export Development Canada, sold Internet filtering technology to the government of Bahrain — a country criticized internationally for widespread suppression of human rights defenders through censorship, surveillance, arbitrary detention and torture. In 2016 Bahrain started using Netsweeper’s Web-filtering software to keep a lid on dissent, a University of Toronto report said. It added that the Sunni-dominated monarchy is going so far as to use the software to deny Bahrain’s majority Shia citizens access to basic information about their religion and religious leaders. In 2015, the Netsweeper’s software was also reported as being used to cut Yemen’s citizens off from learning about the civil war surrounding them. Following a February 2017 submission from ECA Watch member Above Ground which called for the adoption of regulatory and policy measures to ensure Canada is not complicit in foreseeable human rights violations associated with the use of digital censorship and surveillance technologies supplied by Canadian companies, EDC was called to to testify before Canada’s Senate human rights committee. In their testemony, EDC stated that, at this point, the guarantee that is the subject of the complaint is no longer in place, nor is the company a customer of EDC.
EDC’s response to alleged abuse in Colombian oilfields highlights deficits in due diligence
(Above Ground, Ottawa, 14 June 2017) Our latest correspondence with Export Development Canada (EDC) about the impacts in Colombia of two oil companies it financed highlights our longstanding concerns about the adequacy and transparency of the agency’s human rights due diligence practices. Last fall, following the release of a report documenting serious human rights abuses associated with the operations of EDC clients Pacific Exploration & Production and Ecopetrol in Colombia’s Rubiales and Quifa oilfields, we joined the report authors[1] in writing to EDC to express our concern. We asked the agency whether it was aware of the substantial risks associated with oil development in the region when it decided to finance the two companies, and how it would respond to the reported violations of indigenous, labour and environmental rights connected to its clients’ activities.[2] Export Development Canada’s letter of reply neglected to provide any substantive answer to these questions. As we note in our response to EDC, it remains unclear how the agency will address reported abuses associated with its clients’ activities — including the violation by Pacific E&P of Colombian law governing consultation with indigenous peoples, as determined by a 2015 court ruling. It also remains unclear how EDC will ensure that its clients remediate the harms caused, provide redress, and prevent their operations from heightening the serious risks to local community leaders who’ve spoken out critically about the companies’ activities and now face death threats.
EDC Signals Millions in New Loans for India with the Opening of Singapore Branch
(Business Wire, Mumbai, 2 April 2017) Export Development Canada today announced its new and first global branch outside of Canada, in Singapore. “EDC’s new branch can process transactions in real time for Indian companies, eliminating the previous 12 hour delay to connect back to our financing team in Canada,” says Bill Brown, Regional Vice-President, Asia, EDC. “EDC’s financial services are now offered more quickly and effectively, which will significantly benefit Indian companies.” The new Singapore branch is expected to play an important role in doubling EDC’s loan bookings by 2021, when it hopes to be providing over USD 4 billion in new commercial financing annually.
Canada’s EDC and UK UKEF eye Philippine growth and infrastructure
(Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila, 24 April 2017) As offers of development funding from China and Japan pour in, Canada also wants a bigger piece of the Philippine growth story as its export credit agency Export Development Canada (EDC) seeks more opportunities to fund infrastructure projects and other key industries. In an e-mail interview with the Inquirer, EDC regional vice president for Asia international business development William Brown said EDC was anticipating more Canadian businesses wanting to invest and sell more products to the Philippines as Canadian exporters and investors seek opportunities in emerging markets. EDC recently opened a branch in Singapore to function as its financing hub in Asia. The United Kingdom has offered the Philippines a chance to tap its £4.5-billion export-import facility as a financing option for the Duterte Administration’s massive infrastructure program, the Department of Finance (DoF) said over the weekend.
Canadian ECA supports Canadian software exports to stifle dissent in Bahrain
(Above Ground, Ottawa, 15 February 2017) Last year an Ontario-based company, with support from Export Development Canada, sold Internet filtering technology to the government of Bahrain — a country criticized internationally for widespread suppression of human rights defenders through censorship, surveillance, arbitrary detention and torture. In this submission to the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, we draw attention to this troubling situation and call for the adoption of regulatory and policy measures to ensure Canada is not complicit in foreseeable human rights violations associated with the use of digital censorship and surveillance technologies supplied by Canadian companies. The kingdom of Bahrain last summer started using Web-filtering software from Netsweeper Inc. as a means of keeping a lid on dissent according to a University of Toronto report.
Hungarian & Canadian ECAs to co-finance Indonesia’s GE gas power project
(Business Journal, Budapest, 12 December 2016) The Hungarian Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and export credit agency Export Development Canada (EDC) will jointly finance a project to build eight mobile power plants using General Electric (GE) technology for Indonesiaʼs state-owned electricity company, Hungaryʼs Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said today, according to Hungarian news agency MTI.
Angola takes out EDC loan in Canada to pay for locomotives from General Electric
(Macauhub, Macau, 29 September 2016) Canada’s export credit agency will finance the purchase by Angola of 100 locomotives from US group General Electric, according to an authorization granted by presidential order. The order authorizes the state to borrow US$429.5 million from the Canadian state agency and justifies the decision with the need to diversify sources of funding, while ensuring the purchase of the locomotives.
