US investment poised to increase

Photo by: Marisa Reichert

Lawrence Spinelli, director of public affairs at Overseas Private Investment Corporation, speaks to reporters this week.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Wednesday, 09 March 2011 15:00 Jeremy Mullins

Cambodia is poised to see an increase in United States investment as the world financial crisis recedes, according to Overseas Private Investment Corporation director of public affairs Lawrence Spinelli.

The world’s economic downturn had hit the Kingdom particularly hard, while restricting access to credit for American firms planning to expand abroad, he said on Monday.

“We were starting to see an increase of potential US investors when the crisis hit. Some took their plans and their ideas and sort of kept them on the shelf for the moment,” he said.

“With the global economic recession diminishing, I think more and more businesses are looking for expansion, and I think there are great opportunities here in Cambodia."

Spinelli is touring Southeast Asia in advance of a May conference in Jakarta aimed at promoting the OPIC to potential investors, both American and international.

OPIC – which is a United States government agency - provides longer-term financing for American investors locating in emerging markets, particularly when the projects cannot receive financing through traditional lenders such as the banks.

It also provides long-term risk insurance.

OPIC claims to have a current portfolio totalling US$13 billion. It can operate in 155 countries worldwide with exceptions such as developed countries and North Korea, Cuba and China - from which Congress had barred it from operating to voice its displeasure with the handling of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

The US has been increasingly targeting Asia since the election of Barack Obama as US President, he said, adding that in the prior four to eight years “I don’t think Asia was regarded as much of a priority for the US government”.

OPIC currently does not yet finance an investment in Cambodia, but is in talks with several US companies regarding ventures in the Kingdom’s tourism, infrastructure, energy, and financial services sector, he claimed, but declined to provide a timeline.

Spinelli said OPIC is required to follow stringent regulations government concerns such as environment, labour law, and the extraction industry, but downplayed concerns following these rules gave US business a disadvantage compared with other economies.

“In the longer term, I don’t think it does put us at a competitive disadvantage, because it is the right thing to do,” he said.

Spinelli met with officials from the government and the American Chamber of Commerce during his Phnom Penh visit, partly to introduce the OPIC and encourage attendance at the conference.

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US President Obama's State of the Union 2011

Dear all,

If you missed last night live 2011 State of the Union CLICK HERE to watch President Obama address on innovation, education, security and budget deficit.

President Obama framed his speech around the theme of “winning the future” a call to maintain American greatness through innovation in a rapidly changing world. He also focused on investment in education and infrastructure as essential for the US not just to remain competitive in the global marketplace, but also to win, to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.

R. V.

Read More

US President Obama's State of the Union 2011

Dear all,

If you missed last night live 2011 State of the Union CLICK HERE to watch President Obama address on innovation, education, security and budget deficit.

President Obama framed his speech around the theme of “winning the future” a call to maintain American greatness through innovation in a rapidly changing world. He also focused on investment in education and infrastructure as essential for the US not just to remain competitive in the global marketplace, but also to win, to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.

R. V.

Read More

US President Obama's State of the Union 2011

Dear all,

If you missed last night live 2011 State of the Union CLICK HERE to watch President Obama address on innovation, education, security and budget deficit.

President Obama framed his speech around the theme of “winning the future” a call to maintain American greatness through innovation in a rapidly changing world. He also focused on investment in education and infrastructure as essential for the US not just to remain competitive in the global marketplace, but also to win, to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.

R. V.

Read More

If you live in Long Beach or LA, you may want to know this

For orientation purposes, the above Google Earth map shows the Southern California coastline along with the location of the City of Los Angeles, the City of Long Beach and the City of San Diego. Please note the peculiar shape of the coastline near the City of Long Beach (Click on the map to zoom in)



3-D Simulation Predicts LA Will Bear Brunt of the 'Big One'.

Wed Sep 15, 2010
Analysis by Michael Reilly
Discovery News (USA)

Any time there's a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, you'd expect a nearby city to get walloped. But according to a brand new simulation of what would happen if the "Big One" hit the San Andreas fault in southern California, the shaking would be particularly severe and last much longer in Los Angeles than in other parts of the region.

Using the world's fastest supercomputer, Thomas Jordan of the University of Southern California and a team of researchers simulated how the ground would shake throughout Southern California and into Mexico in the event of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered northwest of Los Angeles.

The team found that the ground beneath the city shakes harder and longer than surrounding areas, likely because of soil effects that amplify seismic waves. This means that buildings in L.A. have to put up with much more punishment.

As the above news report from KTLA mentions, this result is doubly interesting because scientists recently found evidence that big earthquakes on the southern part of the San Andreas happen far more often than anyone thought:

They found that strong earthquakes -- between 6.5 and 7.9 magnitude -- shook the area every 45-144 years, instead of the previously established 250-400 years.

Since the last big 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck southern California in 1857, or 153 years ago, scientists believe the next "Big One" could happen at any time.

The scientists on Friday provided an abstract of their study, which will be published in full in the September 1 issue of the magazine Geology.

"What we know is for the last 700 years, earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault have been much more frequent than everyone thought," said the study's lead author Sinan Akciz.

This doesn't mean that a powerful earthquake is imminent; scientists cannot predict earthquakes. What it does mean is that anyone living in southern California should make sure they have an emergency plan and supplies in place in case the unthinkable -- but certainly possible -- happens.

Read More

If you live in Long Beach or LA, you may want to know this

For orientation purposes, the above Google Earth map shows the Southern California coastline along with the location of the City of Los Angeles, the City of Long Beach and the City of San Diego. Please note the peculiar shape of the coastline near the City of Long Beach (Click on the map to zoom in)



3-D Simulation Predicts LA Will Bear Brunt of the 'Big One'.

Wed Sep 15, 2010
Analysis by Michael Reilly
Discovery News (USA)

Any time there's a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, you'd expect a nearby city to get walloped. But according to a brand new simulation of what would happen if the "Big One" hit the San Andreas fault in southern California, the shaking would be particularly severe and last much longer in Los Angeles than in other parts of the region.

Using the world's fastest supercomputer, Thomas Jordan of the University of Southern California and a team of researchers simulated how the ground would shake throughout Southern California and into Mexico in the event of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered northwest of Los Angeles.

The team found that the ground beneath the city shakes harder and longer than surrounding areas, likely because of soil effects that amplify seismic waves. This means that buildings in L.A. have to put up with much more punishment.

As the above news report from KTLA mentions, this result is doubly interesting because scientists recently found evidence that big earthquakes on the southern part of the San Andreas happen far more often than anyone thought:

They found that strong earthquakes -- between 6.5 and 7.9 magnitude -- shook the area every 45-144 years, instead of the previously established 250-400 years.

Since the last big 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck southern California in 1857, or 153 years ago, scientists believe the next "Big One" could happen at any time.

The scientists on Friday provided an abstract of their study, which will be published in full in the September 1 issue of the magazine Geology.

"What we know is for the last 700 years, earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault have been much more frequent than everyone thought," said the study's lead author Sinan Akciz.

This doesn't mean that a powerful earthquake is imminent; scientists cannot predict earthquakes. What it does mean is that anyone living in southern California should make sure they have an emergency plan and supplies in place in case the unthinkable -- but certainly possible -- happens.

Read More

If you live in Long Beach or LA, you may want to know this

For orientation purposes, the above Google Earth map shows the Southern California coastline along with the location of the City of Los Angeles, the City of Long Beach and the City of San Diego. Please note the peculiar shape of the coastline near the City of Long Beach (Click on the map to zoom in)



3-D Simulation Predicts LA Will Bear Brunt of the 'Big One'.

Wed Sep 15, 2010
Analysis by Michael Reilly
Discovery News (USA)

Any time there's a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, you'd expect a nearby city to get walloped. But according to a brand new simulation of what would happen if the "Big One" hit the San Andreas fault in southern California, the shaking would be particularly severe and last much longer in Los Angeles than in other parts of the region.

Using the world's fastest supercomputer, Thomas Jordan of the University of Southern California and a team of researchers simulated how the ground would shake throughout Southern California and into Mexico in the event of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered northwest of Los Angeles.

The team found that the ground beneath the city shakes harder and longer than surrounding areas, likely because of soil effects that amplify seismic waves. This means that buildings in L.A. have to put up with much more punishment.

As the above news report from KTLA mentions, this result is doubly interesting because scientists recently found evidence that big earthquakes on the southern part of the San Andreas happen far more often than anyone thought:

They found that strong earthquakes -- between 6.5 and 7.9 magnitude -- shook the area every 45-144 years, instead of the previously established 250-400 years.

Since the last big 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck southern California in 1857, or 153 years ago, scientists believe the next "Big One" could happen at any time.

The scientists on Friday provided an abstract of their study, which will be published in full in the September 1 issue of the magazine Geology.

"What we know is for the last 700 years, earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault have been much more frequent than everyone thought," said the study's lead author Sinan Akciz.

This doesn't mean that a powerful earthquake is imminent; scientists cannot predict earthquakes. What it does mean is that anyone living in southern California should make sure they have an emergency plan and supplies in place in case the unthinkable -- but certainly possible -- happens.

Read More