US keen on more partnerships as SL returns to rule of law
Fred P. Hochberg
Two mega US projects -a large rail/locomotive and an oil refinery is stated to come to Sri Lanka having been backed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM). Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President of US EXIM who was on a short visit to Colombo told the Business Times on Tuesday that the US is eyeing Sri Lanka ‘positively’ more so now that there’s a new regime with a progressive outlook. ”After the election (in Sri Lanka) the US is quite keen on working with Sri Lanka,” Mr. Hochberg, under whom US EXIM is seeking new markets for U.S. goods and services in emerging economies with growing infrastructure needs, including Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nigeria and South Africa, added.
When asked the reason for this, he said that now (after the regime change) there’s a greater sense of the rule of law, there’s a sense of reform, and a greater sense of the President and the government delivering to the people. ”We’re happy about the level playing field and the governance. The direction the government is taking is good.” Mr. Hochberg who has worked to expand the global footprint of key domestic industries in which U.S. exporters have a comparative advantage added that US firms, GE and Caterpillar are in the running for a US$30 million railroad project which seeks to replace Sri Lanka’s old locomotives. “There is a large oil refinery and gas project worth $500 million that a US company is interested in. We issued letters of interest to both of them.”
Mr. Hochberg and his team who are heading to India for similar opportunities said that US EXIM is interested in renewable energy, construction and farm machinery, medical technology, agriculture, and avionics. Mr. Hochberg, the longest serving chairman at US EXIM, said that they’re interested to supply tools of manufacture for the garment sector in Sri Lanka. Under his leadership in FY 2011, EXIM Bank for the third-straight year set export finance records in a number of key areas. Overall financing for the first time exceeded $32 billion and supported $40.6 billion in exports and approximately 290,000 export-related American jobs at more than 3,600 U.S. companies. Small business financing rose over 70 per cent from $3.3 billion in FY 2008 to $6 billion in FY 2011. Renewable energy export financing more than doubled to $721 million over the previous fiscal year.