March 1999

In February, three U.S. trade finance agencies opened the Caspian Finance Center at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. A joint project of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the center will help U.S. companies break into this rapidly developing new market, which is being spurred by Caspian Basin energy resources. In addition to oil and gas pipelines, the center's business development efforts will focus on ancillary infrastructure opportunities, such as water supply, wastewater treatment facilities, power, and telecommunications. Transportation projects, including airports, ports, railroads, and highways, will also be targeted as will projects to provide support services, such as hotels, food processing, and retail facilities.

The Caspian Finance Center, a first-of-its-kind initiative for U.S. trade finance centers, will help TDA to identify projects deserving of feasibility study funding and technical assistance. OPIC will offer eligible U.S. investors finance and insurance coverage for construction, ownership, and operation of oil and gas pipelines and other energy- and nonenergy-related projects in the region. Ex-Im Bank will offer financing for the export of U.S. goods and services needed for the development of the oil and gas pipelines, as well as for related infrastructure construction.

For more information about the Caspian Finance Center, contact Deborah Forhan of TDA or Peter Ballinger of OPIC at tel: +90 (312) 468-6110 ext. 2075 or fax: +90 (312) 466-6082, or send e-mail to: info@tda.gov.

This report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS)