 Gentlemen, I'd like to welcome all of you here to CSIS for one of our Banyan Tree leadership forum sessions with the Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Fred Hochberg. I'd like to particularly welcome the colleagues from the Ossian Washington Committee, the Diplomatic Corps, the Ambassadors are here, and welcome. Thank you for joining us. Last June, I was in Hanoi and I got a call from an old friend named Kevin Varney, who's the Chief of Staff of Mr. Hochberg's at Ex-Im Bank, and he said, any chance we could check in with you, we're in, I'm with the Chairman, we're traveling in Asia, we're picking out some major markets for Ex-Im Bank to focus on and I would like to just touch base and I said, well sure, where are you? He said, well I'm in Hanoi and I said, great, I'm right here. So we ended up having an opportunity to sit down for about an hour at the famous Metropole Hotel in Hanoi and I got to meet the man who is the leader of Ex-Im Bank and I was really impressed with his vision, with his commitment to develop markets in Southeast Asia and globally, of course. He's got a tough job. He's the point man on President Obama's team for reaching an incredibly ambitious goal, but one that we all, our economic destiny, is all tied to. And that is to try to double U.S. exports over the next five years. And this is a man who can really probably help us realize that goal. He's the highest ranking, one of the highest ranking business leaders in the Obama administration. He was nominated by the President in April of 2009 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. He's really a renaissance man type of leader, a fascinating guy with a strong corporate sector background but has also worked in education. He was the longtime president and chief operating officer of Lillian Vernon Corporation and he transformed that from a family owned, small family owned mail order company into one of the leading international, publicly traded, direct marketing corporations. He's also worked in government before. He was the acting administrator of the small business administration and after that he went to the academic sector and was the dean at the new school in New York from 2004 to 2008. Performance at Exxon Bank has been measurable and very impressive. Under his leadership, the banks recorded a second consecutive record-breaking year including nearly $25 billion of export financing out the door which supported $35 billion worth of exports and nearly a quarter of a million American jobs and more than 3,300 American companies. So they're busy over there. Fred Hochberg is on the road constantly looking for opportunities to develop new markets. I really loved his focus on Southeast Asia and of course here at the CSIS Southeast Asia program, we're looking for leaders with vision who understand the importance of America's engagement in Southeast Asia and I think Fred Hochberg is one. So please join me in welcoming Mr. Hochberg for his presentation. Well, Ernie, thank you and on the way in, Ernie tried to direct me into a panel discussion on the Mexican economy and economic policy and immigration and I said I wasn't prepared for that subject so we kept walking down the hall until we found here and I'm very happy to see the ambassador from Indonesia who I've had a chance to meet with and have dinner with and I feel like when I met Ernie in the Metropolitan Bar in Hanoi it sounded like the start of a movie or certainly many movies but I did meet Ernie on my first trip to Vietnam as chairman and he was very helpful in planning that trip and executing it so it was a terrific trip that also included Indonesia and before I get into my remarks I actually want to talk to you a little bit about one of our companies and our clients in Indonesia. It's a company called Lionair and it's Indonesia's first low-cost carrier and to reach more customers and to expand its fleet our bank at Exxon Bank we approved recently a billion dollars to finance Lionair purchasing 30, 737, 900 ERs and we've already delivered 17 of those. Now all of you I can't imagine everyone in this room is probably flown on a 737. They started in 1967. Their 8,800 737s have been manufactured more than any other plane I think in the history of Boeing and the 737, 900 ER is the latest model, the newest model, the longest range, the most capacity of any in that suite of planes. So what was key was who was going to launch this aircraft, who was going to be the launch customer. The launch customer is a very critical, particularly in aircraft but in many products how you find what company is going to take the risk and help you really get production up. So and that was Lionair and they have so far purchased 178 Boeing 37, 737, 900 ERs. So this was the first time we financed the private sector a private sector carrier in Indonesia. It's helping to transform not only that company but the kind of service they provide throughout Indonesia and I'm very biased, I'm very happy it's a Boeing and it's not somebody else, whoever that may be. And it supports a lot of jobs, it supports thousands and thousands of jobs here in the United States, it supports thousands of jobs in Indonesia. But I tell you that because it's only part of the story. This company was founded only in the year 2000 by two brothers, Kusinan and Rusty Kirana and I had a chance to meet Rusty when I was in London at the Farnborough Air Show. And the reason Lionair is particularly of interest to me and why I'm talking about it is because it also follows another business model and that is Southwest Airlines. And so not only did we export American products and technology, we exported an American business model. And the Southwest business model of a low-cost carrier has actually totally transformed commercial aviation around the world. And in addition to companies like Lionair, there is Gold and Brazil, Ryanair, EasyJet and many others, Norwegian Air Shuttle, many, many which are flying Boeing aircraft. So this company, this transaction is really very much emblematic of what we do at the Exxon Bank. Frequently helping startup companies, introducing innovative new products and helping develop infrastructure in the countries we operate in. And frequently, I know we have friends here from Boeing, frequently we can enter a market through aircraft sales and then open up our portfolio to infrastructure and power projects and a number of other things. And frankly, it's often with large companies like Boeing that can clear the path so that smaller companies and small businesses can also build their presence in foreign markets. But let me let me bring you back to a little bit of our beginnings and then we'll go go back to Southeast Asia. Exxon Bank was formed in 1934 by Franklin's Elna Roosevelt in the depths of the Depression. And in fact, I sit at, for those of you who are American taxpayers, I sit at the same desk, the first chairman of the bank used Jesse Jones. So that desk has been serving the bank for 76 years, no new furniture, a little polished now and then, but it's still working. Our earliest transactions back in 1934, I was not there, were roads, routes, construction, and mention that continues today. One of the early ones that you may remember is the Burma Road, 1938, 700 miles long, connecting the interior of China to the outside world. Followed by the Pan-American Highway 1941, 30,000 miles because it snakes through from North America to South America and really was the first opening up of a trade route between the United States and South America. And the Marshall Plan. Marshall Plan post World War II was largely financed through Exxon Bank and that Marshall Plan was $2 billion. Now, I think $2 billion is a lot of money. $2 billion in 1946 was really a lot of money. And the fact is about $128 billion in today's dollars. So a lot has changed in 75 years. But what does remain the same as in 1934 and all those projects I talked about, it is about strengthening our economy. It's about creating jobs here through exports and creating economic activity, economic vitality, economic jobs in the countries we're exporting to. So what we've done and what has changed over that time is we're now selling more locomotives, more airplanes, more helicopters, as well as road construction and some of the traditional things back from 1934. We're building power plants, telecommunication towers, and really helping emerging economies grow and become and build their own infrastructure. And a lot of it also is now medical technology and a lot of satellite sales. We've seen a burst of satellite sales, satellite transactions in the last 18 months that I'm at the bank has been a huge uptick in satellite production. As Ernie mentioned, I was in business for 20 years. So I look at a year end, I ran a public company, look at a year end with a particularly sharp focus and Ernie gave you a number of the details. Yeah, we did about 24 and a half billion dollars in transactions were up 70% from two years ago. Two years ago, and for the prior 10 years, we were operating about a 10 to 12, 12 to 14 billion dollar range for now in the mid 20s, 25 billion. And this year, it looks like we'll have another record second setting year created just under a quarter of a million US jobs that created or sustained and our financing is financed about $33 billion in US exports. One thing I like to add is we do this at no cost the taxpayer, the fees that our customers pay fully pay for administrative costs they fully pay for our loan losses. And in fact, since 1992, we have generated in excess of all of our costs $5 billion that we've returned to the American taxpayers as additional deficit reduction throughout work. So any of your friends with John Boehner, anybody here friends with John Boehner, if any of your friends with John Boehner or anything else, you know, if you have a moment, a personal moment, you want to share that I've shared it. But, you know, I always have people hear things in stereo, it's better than just here to mono. So if you have an opportunity, I wouldn't let that be that'd be a good message to share $5 billion one, two, three $5 billion. So what we've been trying to do, particularly in this financial crisis, is to ensure that US companies, large and small, have access to capital, and have the competitive edge to compete in the global marketplace. And what we're doing now is trying to target a work we're going to have the most impact. Now, as you all know, the President announced the doubling of exports at the State of the Union Address in his first State of the Union Address in 2010. He actually announced the National Export Initiative at the XM conference in March of 2010. And the goals double exports in five years, support more than 2 million additional American jobs. Actually, personally, I think that's a conservative estimate. I think we can actually then we'll support even more jobs than the 2 million. The President is estimating. But what I wanted to do when I got to the bank, and again, coming out of the business world is to do an analysis of where we could have an impact. So what we did is we looked at 180 countries that we operate in. And we said, where can we really have an impact? Where should we focus our activities? Not a surprise, which is probably why I'm invited to speak here, Indonesia and Vietnam are two of those countries. And let me tell you why a little bit why we selected those two. And I won't leave you in suspense. I'll tell you the other seven. One is a growing GDP. These countries have rapidly growing GDP and a rapidly growing economy that's going to need infrastructure, need infrastructure to keep that economy going. They're going to need both power plants, roads, airports, the entire medical infrastructure, all those things that will help that those economies grow at the rate they've been growing at. And importantly, in these in these nine countries, our financing makes a difference. Our financing can make the difference for an American product to be sold there, American product to be financed, and in the case of small businesses to provide the kind of credit insurance to make those happen. So I know you're on the edge of your seat. So the other seven countries are in Southeast Asia, in South Asia, also India, moving across the globe, Turkey, Nigeria and South Africa. And then in our own hemisphere, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Those are the nine countries we are intensely focused on. Those are the nine countries where we see the greatest opportunity for US exporters. And where we see their economies growing. Last year, we did $5 billion in those nine countries. We're targeting to about $9 billion in export sales in those nine countries this coming year. So I had ambitious goals to visit all nine countries in the first six months of 2010. When I arrived in Jakarta, I realized how long it was to get to Jakarta. So I had to reign in my plan. So I made it to eight out of nine. I didn't make it to full nine. But I did make it to Indonesia and Vietnam. But the trip to the trip to Jakarta was not up because it is a long trip. And I was in Jakarta and Indonesia and Jakarta held a special meaning, I think, since the president spent so much of his youth there attended a grammar school just down the just a few blocks from the US Ambassador's house. And I heard about so many from local executives, bank executives about the desire to really meet the infrastructure demands and needs in Indonesia and the desire to buy American products to complete these product projects. And if you just go to the open air markets in Jakarta, and you can see why these products, why the infrastructure is so important, so much of fresh fruit in Indonesia and in Jakarta is imported. And there's no reason for it to be important, but it's imported the mangoes, the citrus fruits, the bananas, they're abundant on rural farms, but frequently they spoil before they can get to marketplace. So more locomotives, better air traffic control systems, a better road system. These things, things that America makes America makes well are really needed to help power this economy, power the agricultural sector in Indonesia, and to make sure that they can keep growing at the rate it's been growing at. And these are particularly the kinds of projects that I see at Exxon Bank that we can finance and we can really make sure they get off the ground and get off the ground quickly. Exxon did its first work in Indonesia 60 years ago. And it was in 1950, we financed $18 million worth of infrastructure, and when the Republic became Republic in 1950. This $18 million, which was a lot of money in 1950, it helped rebuild railroads and rebuild harbors. And today I think we can see real opportunities to keep financing more of that in the next chapter of Indonesia's growth. Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world by population and the third largest democracy. And with more than 240 million people and rich natural resources and a very expanding and a very entrepreneurial middle class, there's a great opportunity here from the tripling of automobiles in Indonesia from three to 11 million. So while we are there, we announced a $1 billion bank credit facility, particularly focused on small and medium sized companies to help them in their purchase, provide them access to capital, access to credits, they can buy American goods and services to participate in this expansion of infrastructure. According to when we were there, we learned that Indonesia expects to invest over $218 billion in infrastructure in the next five years. It's looking to expand public transportation, systems, ports, roads, all things that I think that we can facilitate in. And I'm hopeful that the $1 billion credit facility will give us businesses a foothold and reach in and trying to sell into that $218 billion demand for services. So going forward, we see a lot of opportunities there, particularly also in the power sector and particularly in the geothermal area, probably one of the few places in the world that geothermal will play a major role in generating power supply in the world. After Indonesia, I traveled to Vietnam, countries you will know with about 85 million people. I met with the Prime Minister there. And we talked about, we talked about many things. We talked about aircraft, airports, roads, many things to help Vietnam grow as a country. And one of the things I thought was interesting, we spent more time, and I don't think I spent as much time with any world leader talking about small and medium sized companies, how the work that we're doing can help Vietnam also develop its SME sector. And we talked about how to make mutually beneficial progress on trade between our two countries. And Vietnam is entering from what we could see is a new phase of economic activity. As its economy is growing, Vietnam is actually has more credit options, more banking options than it had before. And so for the first time in a long time, it's looking towards export credit agencies and commercial banks to finance its infrastructure and its businesses. And I think that we at Exxon Bank are well positioned to be a part of that. One thing I also found in Vietnam is that there was a great desire to purchase US goods and services. And we can provide those kind of guarantees and insurance to make it easier for Vietnamese companies to buy from us. So in Vietnam, we announced a $500 million credit facility, particularly on high priority infrastructure projects. And as part of that, we're looking at intelligent road systems, more for satellite and communications and a number of projects that Vietnam is looking to add as it builds its infrastructure. So it's not just that Vietnam and Indonesia are important to the United States, there are others obviously in the region. I mean, we've done substantial business in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia has also seen significant growth in opportunities. And in addition to, I mentioned Lionair at the start, you know, we have been providing and helping to sell with our friends at Boeing to Thai Airlines, Malaysian, Garuda, Singapore, and Filipino Airlines as well. So we have a large presence and a bullish presence in Southeast Asia. Now about three weeks after I joined the bank, the president lifted the ban on our ability to do business in Laos and Cambodia. It was not a cause and effect, but it was it was a nice welcome when I got to the bank. So we are looking to do business in Cambodia, we're looking to do business in Laos. These are countries that we've been off limits for over 30 years, and XM Bank and those are some that are also hoping that we can increase. So I see a great deal of opportunities for us in the entire region. I mentioned aircraft, helicopters for offshore oil exploration, and power and a number of the other projects. I see this as an area, locomotives, as I also mentioned, is a very strong area and critical in Indonesia. So I believe that American products, American services, American capital goods can play a really key role in helping communities throughout Southeast Asia, build their infrastructure and and be able to keep their economies growing at the rapid rate has been growing at. And we are working closely with the Commerce Department, who we work with on the ground in each of those countries. Ron Kirk in the United States Trade Representative and the entire commercial service, trying to give companies more access to these important markets. So I'd like to close with just one point before I take some questions. And I'd like to talk to you about why this work is important and why it's important, in my view, beyond just the exchange of goods and services. Because I think it goes beyond just monetary transactions. I think it goes to kind of laying the groundwork for commercial diplomacy. I think it's clear what company, what countries build and what nations build reflects what they value, reflects their goals, reflects the hopes and aspirations. And it reflects their vision for their country's future and embodies what their citizens are dreaming about what their citizens want to achieve. And whether it's roads or rail or solar energy or airplanes, if we build things together, if we do these projects together, we will have ties that are far deeper than just the transaction itself. Because what we're really doing is we're investing in each other's people and their prosperity and their economic vitality. And these investments, yes, they're probably about stronger business engagement, but I think they also will reinforce mutual respect and commitment between the United States and Southeast Asia. I think it helps the United States and helps this country build on tolerance, build on respect for human rights, build on a sense of diversity, and build on expanding economic opportunities for citizens on both sides of the transaction, both in the countries we're exporting to in terms of the jobs and opportunities there and in the United States. And I think it talks about shared commitment. And it talks about building more durable democracies in each of those countries. And I think that this kind of trade between us can also help America as it tries to advance our relations in the Muslim world. And I think that's why this is a particularly important to the United States government as a whole. And but it frankly requires more conversations like we're going to have today. It requires more cultural exchanges, requires more student programs to expand understanding so students in both countries have a better understanding. It's clear when I'm traveling when when I'm in Indonesia, Vietnam and there are people who have studied in America, it brings that understanding to their work there. And it does change the dynamic and change the interaction between our two countries. What's important is make sure we have a level playing field for American companies. So when they compete, that they can compete fairly and evenly. And it requires someone I admire enormously, Jeff of GE likes to say it's understanding the nuances of foreign markets. And I think the better we understand them, we can build not just business relationships, we can build trust, we can build understanding, we can build a greater knowledge about each other. And I think that it helps us really bridge some differences and paper over things or not meant not paper and smooth over things when we hit a rough patch. And I think it lets us find areas of agreement, find areas of common ground between both of our countries. So I think these partnerships are critical. I think this type of commercial diplomacy guides very much what I'm trying to do at the expert of a bank and remains our focus in the months and years ahead. So I look forward to working closely with Ernie in the center, and expanding our work in Southeast Asia. And I want to thank you for this opportunity. And we can open up for questions or everything. Thank you. Like to you want to what do you prefer? Why don't you stay at the podium? So you can see when people want to sit, there's some I was going to say, come on up and join us up. We'd love to take some questions. Now, this is usually the very interesting part of the Banyan Tree Forum. The only rules are just please let us know who you are and what organization you're with. And I'll throw the floor open for questions. Start with Rich. Chairman Hufford, Rich Harold with GE Transportation. First of all, first of all, thank you so much for your leadership and leadership of your great staff in helping to make American business maintenance its competitiveness in the world. And I want to ask you a question about that today, particularly related to China, which is timely since President Eugene Collins is going to be visiting us in about a week in Washington. With the rise of China has come a lot of opportunity, but also a lot of competition. And China produces very often, exports that are not only lower cost, at least before initial price in American companies, but China provides export financing that often amounts to subsidies. And Kimmel, Lorenzo Seminale, and my colleagues and I are particularly grateful for XIM stepping up to the plate and boldly leading that Chinese competition with us in Pakistan. But what I'd like to ask you is going forward, what are the tools XIM has in the coming months and years that you think are most useful to help American companies? And what are the prospects for keeping those fully funded so that you have the word just available? Well, the comment that is referred to, we have an ability. I believe American products, American companies are selling what the world wants to buy and what the world is looking to buy and that with a level playing field, American companies can compete and effectively certainly win their fair share of we're not going to win every order, but certainly win their fair share of orders and tenders. China has not been a member of the OECD and provides financing that is sort of not in compliance with OECD regulations. And we have an ability and we went and petitioned the OECD back in, not petition, I should say, we informed the OECD back in February that there was a non-compliant financing on the table and we were going to meet that financing and we have met that and we're hopeful that with that level playing field on financing that the products, which is the essence of it, American-made locomotives and Chinese compete on a product-to-product basis and compete on value and that the financing is not the issue that induces the sale. We have an ability to do that. We are also, I think we're also up for reauthorization this year, so one of the things we'll be looking at keenly is that we can provide the services both to large companies and small companies. And I think that we are self-funding and I would say one of the challenges we have ahead and as we begin 2011 and we go through our reauthorization is we're one of the very few agencies that is totally self-funding. The fees that our customers pay, pay for all our administrative costs, as I mentioned, and all of our loan losses and I think that that's a message and that's a we're trying to make as many people both in the business community and the communications and on the hill understand because I think that changes the dynamic. We're not just looking for another appropriation as other agencies are and we're creating jobs. So I'm hopeful that as we go through this reauthorization process, we are able to sort of make those points clear and therefore stand out a little bit from some of the other issues that are going on. I think that's where you're coming from. Hi, Matt Schull from Inside U.S. Trade. Thanks Chairman Hochberg. I actually have a question related to the reauthorization that you mentioned. It's important to I know both the XM and the business community. The business community has outlined some of the issues it wants to see addressed in that context such as as you mentioned how to continue expanding XM financing to small businesses with limited administrative resources, leveling the playing field with other ECAs by relaxing the 85 percent U.S. content requirement and also from what I understand this whole issue of tied aid which I think is what the gentleman was referring to with China. Have you at the XM and the administration set out your priorities for the charter reauthorization? Have you had any interagency meetings about that and how receptive are you to those priorities outlined by the business community such as the U.S. relaxing the content requirement? Thanks. That sounds like six questions. We're in the process of going through reauthorization. We're doing it internally within our bout to embark on an interagency process with OMB. Some of the issues you mentioned are not charter issues. One thing I learned is I'm going to focus on the charter. I'm not going to drag things that are not in the charter into the charter vice versa. A number of those things are not. Content requirements, for example, are not charter issues. Tied aid is really not a charter issue. Small business is an important initiative of the president. I believe one of the reasons the president asked me to take this job, having worked in a small and was once a small business for 20 years and then at the SBN of President Clinton, we have a large emphasis on small business. We're actually announcing a partnership called global access for small business on Thursday with Tom Donahue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers will be doing that at the chamber. So our work in small business is important. And that's really an appropriation issue. And since we're on a CR that's made our expansion and reaching more small businesses much more of a challenge for us because the president asked for a 25 percent increase in our budget so we could do that. And since we're on a CR, we're at last year's level. So that's made our work in small business much, much more challenging. I think I'll only comment on one. I mean, you mentioned about 85 percent content. I'm really not a big advocate of working to change that. I think that there are a lot of advocates on both sides of that issue. It does help a number of American suppliers in terms of supplying U.S. exporters. It is higher than most of our trading partners. But I think we focus on small business. We focus on these nine countries. If we focus on working with companies large and small in finding innovative financing and finding other ways of getting our products out there, we can double exports. And I'm not sure the 85 percent is really going to make that difference. Well, mostly making sure we have the, right now the bank is capped at $100 billion in our portfolio. Our portfolio is about $78 billion. So we're running the numbers right now to find out how much headroom we need. So we're able to both double exports and have sufficient lending authority to do so. That's one of the larger issues we're looking at. At most of the others, we are working again internally. And I know, I see John Hardy, we're going to be meeting with CE and a number of our other business community. And so we're also soliciting comments in terms of from business community. What else is needed in that regard? So that's really how we're looking at those issues. Thank you. Bob DeHaan from the National Fisheries Institute. Mr. Chairman, I was struck by how, by your language in reference to Vietnam and Indonesia in terms of the mutuality of the relationship and the need for making mutually beneficial progress. There are two issues related to the same fish that's being processed and farmed in Vietnam that I think have the potential to create one of the rough patches that you referred to. The fish is called Pangasius. And there are two issues there. The first is that the USDA is considering a regulation that would redefine what this species is and in effect would bar its importation in the United States. Pardon me. And the second is a Commerce Department determination of last fall that would impose 130 percent duty on the importation of the same fish under our anti-dumping regime. From our perspective, and I'm certain from the perspective of our friends from Hanoi who are here today, that's an unjustified decision. Given the excellent outreach that the administration has shown in this region of the world, in economic matters especially over the past two years, I wonder if you'd like to comment on those decisions and indicate where you think from an XM perspective they ought to come down. Thanks. I probably won't comment because we actually those just sort of they're out of our lane. What you know what we do at the XM bank is finance US exports. So I kind of put all my time focused on how I can help more US exports be they products or services export their sales over products overseas their services overseas and that's my focus. So when it comes to I'm on aware I mean I'm generally aware of some of these issues but not the specifics you mentioned and I think I'm probably better off leaving that to USDA and Secretary Vilsack and Locke to help sort that one out. Justin Guisey, our club. So XM bank has a congressional mandate to use 10% of its portfolio towards clean technology environment beneficial exports but according to a recent GAO report the XM bank has spent a mere 0.23% over the period 2003 through 2010 on clean technology exports. At the same time fossil fuel technology exports have been skyrocketing so to put it in perspective in 2010 XM went for the Sasan coal plant in India which was 917 million or roughly four times the amount that XM spent on renewable technology for seven years and I'm wondering how XM plans to reverse the situation and improve American competitiveness in an emerging sector and at the same time move away or shift away from funding fossil fuel projects that shackle dynamic and emerging economies with outdated technologies. Great question. Just a couple of comments on the numbers. First of all last year the year that ended three months ago we did about 330 million dollars of renewable exports. That was up over three fold of the year before and over 300 fold of about four years ago so it's not enough we haven't done nearly enough but I'm proud of more than tripling the prior year. We currently are we are currently financing about 15% of American renewable exports and that America exports about two billion dollars renewable energy we did about 15% of that. It's probably a higher impact on renewable energy in terms of our footprint there than almost any other area of exports. In the areas of fossil fuel we would like to see that go down as well. We put in a carbon policy we put in a much more rigorous approach to how we approve those projects and one of the things I'm trying to do and I could use your help on is we are trying to recruit other export credit agencies to adopt policies like we do. What we can't do is not do any exports in the United States and let Germany and France and and other countries in China and others supply all those coal plants and play all the coal technologies or we sit back. So what I'm trying to do and we have a meeting scheduled in February is to make sure that other export credit agencies play by the same rules that we do. That they record the carbon footprint they actually have a policy about how they will finance those things so we can do this globally. I would like to do more on renewable I'm working to try and increase that. I'd like it to be faster. I'd like it to be faster but probably I'm also trying to and I've I actually have had greater agreement by starting with the G7 of export credit agencies to get more of them on the same page as we are. So I think we're making progress. I wish it was faster. I'm Guan Yunli from 21st Century Business Herald the leading financial daily in China. Actually the the China has talked a lot about the competitiveness of the United States companies in Asia in your speech. Actually I think when you talk when you are talking about the competitiveness you should be very clear about who is your major competitors and then compare your disadvantages and advantages with your competitors. So my first question is that your opinion who is the US company's major competitors in the Southeast Asia? Will it be the European Union or the countries like China, India or Japan in that region? My second question is that you did quite a great job in the past year to help the United States companies. So what will you do in the future to improve the US company's competitiveness in Southeast Asia? Will you get much more capital to support them or will you introduce some new facilities to help them? Okay that's my question. I would say in Southeast Asia we see a lot of competition from Japan, China, India, Germany, Korea. Those are some of the competition we see. I would say that one of the things I would like to encourage more American companies to do is to get out there and compete. Frequently when I'm in foreign countries I'm just hearing repeatedly that just not enough American companies actually making a bid and responding to a tender offer. So that's one of the issues that I'm hopeful from this forum and other forums that we can get more American companies to go out there and be more competitive. One of the new products we're doing, we launched this past fall to help American companies to be more competitive is we're now doing something called supply chain financing so that if we have an exporter we can help provide export credit assistance to the suppliers of exporters, the indirect exporters, so that's another way of helping US companies be more competitive. Mostly I believe that if we if we have a level playing field on bidding, a level playing field on tariffs, a level playing field on taxes and financing, American companies can compete well. It's harder for them to compete when the playing field is just not level. Greg Dole with Boeing as one of the Boeing representatives in the room, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that the chairman and his staff worked tirelessly over the last few years to keep some of those foreign carriers including Lion Air and Vietnam Airlines flying through those facilities that they have provided at the bank. You can also rest assure that the Boeing company John Hardy at CEE and others will be up on Capitol Hill, apprising John Boehner and the rest of the Congress, the Tea Party among others, that in fact you are a profit center, a five billion dollar profit center and what's not really known that well and we've got to do a better job is just how much these sales impact not only the Boeing company, it's 160,000 employees but the 22,000 suppliers in every state of the Union. I mean it's absolutely critical that the Congress understand that and as well that 12 million US jobs are touched by the aviation sector, 12 million jobs. So thank you, thank you for your staff support for the years. Can you hear a question there? Yeah, I can't enforce the question rule. This was not a paid political announcement but we do appreciate again everything you've done for us and the administration in helping us sell aircraft around the globe and to level the playing field with our competitors so it's just thank you, appreciate your help. Thanks. Thank you. I'm Jim, a reporter from Singapore. I'd like to re-ask that question about China in perhaps more direct terms. I was wondering if you could give us your assessment of America's economic competitiveness in Southeast Asia relative to what China is doing. In your view, what is America continuing to do right and well? What areas are lagging in your view? In five to ten years time, you know, do you expect to see a serious shift in the economic balance of things and if I may just tag on one real quick question. The nine countries that you listed, I'm not sure if I heard wrong but I don't think China was listed in there. Why is that? Thank you. Okay, let me see if I can get all that. I'm going to start with the last one because I can remember it best. China is not listed. It is an important market. It's the third largest destination for US goods and services. It's just that our financing is not really a factor in making sales to China. That the nine countries we've chosen are nine countries we're in addition to all those other factors, our financing can make the competitive difference between making a sale and not making a sale. That's just not the case in China. I think what's most, I mean, China is a formidable competitor. China is, you know, both a developing country and an industrial powerhouse and competes strongly with American companies. I still I'm very bullish on US exports. American companies make some of the best products in the world. They make some of the most reliable products. They make products that their companies stand behind. Foreign buyers tell me this when they, you know, when American companies says they're going to deliver, they deliver on time. They back up their products with service and there's a, there's a very key, there's a transparency in doing business with us. There's a transparency in doing business with American companies that lets buyers know exactly where they stand. Those values, those products, that approach to business serves American business owners and leaders very well. What we stand to do is to make sure that financing is never a stumbling block, that financing never gets in the way from an American company making a sale. That's what, that's my commitment. I can, I can respond on the financing side and if there are, if there are countries that provide a low market or sort of non-compliant financing, we will find a way to meet that so that that is not the reason come American company loses its sales. The last piece I still emphasize is we need to get more American companies out there bidding, more American companies with working with Exxon Bank, working with the Commerce Department, working with the USTR so that they can, they're out there and competing and know that if they do compete, we will back them up with financing, we'll back them up with making sure trade regulations and rules are followed and providing the access and intelligence on the marketplace.