US embassy cable - 03AMMAN3988

UNCLAS AMMAN 003988 
 
SIPDIS 
 
OPIC FOR WILLIAMS/KIWAN 
TREASURY FOR OASIA -- ABIGAIL DEMOPULOS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN, EINV, JO 
SUBJECT: OPIC SOVEREIGN DEBT FACILITY FOR JORDAN 
 
REF: AMMAN 332 
 
1.  (SBU)  Citibank Jordan General Manager Suhair Al-Ali 
told ECON/C July 1 that Citigroup had scheduled a July 13 
presentation to Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb on the 
proposed use in Jordan of OPIC's new "Non-Honoring of 
Sovereign Guarantee Insurance" facility.  She hoped that 
an OPIC official would be available to participate in the 
presentation and to answer questions from the PM, Finance 
Minister Marto, Planning Minister Awadallah and others 
about how it would work. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Al-Ali also said she would forward to the 
Embassy a copy of a draft agreement between Citigroup and 
Jordan covering the use of the facility.  Embassy will 
forward this to Washington by email when received.  Al- 
Ali said that the GOJ was keen to take advantage of the 
program and that the Finance Minister's earlier 
objections to taking on new sovereign debt had been 
resolved.  She thought one of the first borrowings would 
be for the Bechtel-managed Aqaba Development Corporation, 
which is responsible for the strategic development of 
Aqaba as an industrial, tourism and transportation hub on 
the Red Sea. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Comment:  Following the Iraq war, recent 
progress on Israeli-Palestinian track, and the success of 
the World Economic Forum meetings in Jordan, there 
appears to be a resurgence of interest in investing in 
Jordan.  Al-Ali said she wanted to assure OPIC that 
Citigroup is very serious about moving forward with this 
initiative.  She felt that OPIC participation in the 
presentation would be very helpful.  Post is highly 
supportive of OPIC's engagement in Jordan and would be 
pleased to support an OPIC visitor for this purpose. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Embassy point of contact is Econoff Greg 
Garramone: GarramoneGG@state.gov, 962-6-592-0101 x 2557. 
 
GNEHM