OPIC is Coming to Yemen [Archives:2008/1140/Reportage]

Mr. Lawrence Spinelli, Director of Public Affairs for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has been recently in Yemen, looking into the opportunities of joint US-Yemen investment projects in Yemen. OPIC is preparing now for its 2008 conference which will focus on the Middle East. It is going to be held in the Dead Sea on May 5-7 covering some Middle East countries including Yemen. On OPIC plans for the Middle East countries and Yemen and the conference, Mohammed al-Qadhi spoke to Mr. Spinelli and filed the following interview.

Q- Could you please give us a brief account about OPIC?

A- Let me tell you a little bit about the Oversees Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). First of all we can provide financing for U.S. businesses that want to come and invest. Let's say your company finds a project they would like to invest in or do something here in Yemen and they go to the WB in the United States to try to get financing for their project and the WB says they cannot help, they can come to OPIC to get a loan. So this is one thing that we do. The second thing that we do is provide something called political “risk insurance.”” It helps to give peace of mind to a U.S. investor who is coming to another country