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Press Release                                                                               

April 24, 2001

 

IACD AND RIGGS BANK SIGN EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

FOR $15 MILLION LINE OF CREDIT

             Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD), an agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), today signed a memorandum of understanding on a US$15 million line of credit for social development programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, with Riggs Bank N.A. These programs will address issues of education, information technology and poverty alleviation.
 
          Ron Scheman, Director General of the IACD, underscored the significance of the agreement by referring to the recent Summit of the Americas in Quebec, Canada, where the presidents emphasized the importance of  private public sector partnership to help implement these types of programs. "When you get into the issue of private public sector partnership, there are two things that are critical- technology and resources- and Riggs Bank, as is evidenced by this agreement, can provide both of these."
           Among the initial IACD priorities will be working with the Chilean government with its technical cooperation in the field of government procurement systems; setting up rural solar villages in the Americas for connection to the Internet; and training primary school teachers to use the latest information technologies in their classrooms.
          Timothy C. Coughlin, President of Riggs Bank N.A. Holding Company, pointed out that the Latin American and Caribbean region is very important to his corporation and said "We're looking forward to the point in time when countries will enjoy real free trade throughout the Americas and can more fully share their intellectual capital as well as their monetary capital for the success of the Western hemisphere as a whole."
          The IACD was established in November 1999 to promote technical cooperation and training programs necessary to accelerate economic development in the countries of the hemisphere.
          Riggs Bank N.A. is a full service commercial bank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with 51 branches in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area as well as locations in Miami, London, Berlin, the Channel Islands and the Bahamas.  The International Banking Group services the diplomatic offices of over 115 countries and maintains relationships with more than 150 correspondent bank worldwide.