OTTAWA, Sept. 18, 2012 /CNW/ - Export Development Canada (EDC) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) of Japan, the official export credit agencies of Canada and Japan, respectively, today signed a reciprocal re-insurance agreement at EDC's headquarters in Ottawa, Canada.
The agreement, signed by Stephen Poloz, President and CEO, EDC, and Takashi Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of NEXI, is intended to bring greater insurance capacity to transactions to which Canadian and Japanese companies are connected, regardless of market or sector.
"The collaboration between NEXI and EDC is really about adding financial capacity to the way that Canadian and Japanese businesses collaborate with each other, on transactions and on projects," said Stephen Poloz. "With the successful complementarity of Canadian and Japanese expertise driving more business-to-business partnerships, particularly in the extractive and infrastructure sectors, the NEXI-EDC agreement is a response to help that trend grow into meaningful trade performance overall, for both countries."
"NEXI has supported the development of projects in this resource rich country for years. Now NEXI, together with EDC, is expanding support for the import of natural resources from Canada. This EDC-NEXI agreement is a win-win for the both countries, helping Canada to diversify its resource and energy markets while providing Japan with a more stable supply," said Takashi Suzuki. "It will also lead to more Japanese investment in Canada by supporting exports of Japanese subsidiaries located in Canada," he added.
In the first transaction under this agreement, NEXI will provide a portion of the coverage for Canadian fuel exports to Japanese utilities. Both agencies will be looking to provide credit insurance on Canadian or Japanese supply to projects in emerging markets, where there is both Canadian and Japanese ownership.
Canadian-Japanese bilateral merchandise trade was valued at approximately CAD 23.5 billion dollars in 2011. In March of this year, Canada and Japan launched free-trade negotiations, called the Economic Partnership Agreement. The proposed agreement has the potential to increase Canada's GDP by CAD 3.8 billion dollars and boost exports to Japan by as much as 67 per cent. The EPA is also expected to increase Japanese exports to Canada by about 37 per cent, which would add USD 4.4 billion dollars to Japan's GDP.
About EDC
EDC is Canada's export credit agency, offering innovative commercial solutions to help Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business. EDC's knowledge and partnerships are used by more than 7,700 Canadian companies and their global customers in up to 200 markets worldwide each year. EDC is financially self-sustaining and a recognized leader in financial reporting and economic analysis.
About NEXI
NEXI is Japan's export credit agency wholly owned by the government of Japan. Its mandate is to support international business transactions, investments and loans by Japanese companies through trade insurance. The amount underwritten by NEXI in 2011 was about 10.7 billion US dollars. As Japanese export and investment destinations are becoming more diverse, NEXI is strengthening cooperative relationships with other ECAs via reinsurance agreement. To date, 18 ECAs have already entered into the agreement with NEXI.
SOURCE: Export Development Canada
Phil Taylor
Export Development Canada
(613) 598-2904
[email protected]
Manabu Inoue
Nippon Export and Investment Insurance
81-(0)3-3512-7655
[email protected]
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