APEC export financing bodies to cut risks
APEC export financing bodies to cut risks
TOKYO (AFP): Asia-Pacific export financing institutions
proposed yesterday to boost cooperation to reduce investment
risks in an effort to raise private-sector funds for
infrastructure development, officials said.
The proposal was made during a meeting of export financing
institutions from the 18-member countries of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Tokyo, the officials said.
It was their first meeting since APEC finance ministers agreed
in April in the Philippines resort city of Cebu to set up a
regular conference of Asia-Pacific export financing institutions.
The meeting, hosted by the Export-Import Bank of Japan, was
also attended by representatives from the World Bank and Asian
Development Bank as well as commercial banks.
Participants said in a statement: "Cooperation among export
financing institutions, rather than competition, is required as
the number of project by multinational consortia is on the rise."
They agreed that the institutions should enhance cofinancing
to increase availability of long term debt and sharing political
and commercial risks.
"Commercial lenders are usually unable to accept political
risks such as war, revolution, expropriation or the
unavailability of foreign exchange," some participants said
during the meeting.
"Export financing institutions can mitigate risks through
approaching the borrower or the host government directly," the
statement said. "The role of export financing institutions and
multilateral agencies are of critical importance in taking such
risks."
They said the current trends in the international capital
markets, in particular the issuance of bonds, would become
increasingly important.
During the meeting, the participants also called for exchange
of information on project appraisal, while calling on host
governments to design risk sharing regime.
Their next meeting will be held in Malaysia in October.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand and the United States.