http://bucharest.usembassy.gov/US_Policy/Press_Releases/RAEF_04022008-en.htm
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Embassy of the United States
Bucharest, Romania
Embassy Press Release
President Bush Announces Creation of Romanian American Foundation to Support
Education
Bucharest, Romania
April 2, 2008
President of the United States George W. Bush announced today the creation
of the Romanian American Foundation as a gift from the people of the United
States to the people of Romania. The Romanian American Foundation, with an
endowment of approximately 150 million USD, will advance private sector
economic development and conditions for democratic stability by support for
non-profit institutions.
In its early years, the Foundation will concentrate its programs on
education, job creation and entrepreneurship, targeting currently
underserved geographic areas and groups of the population. The Foundation
considers guarantees for student loans, scholarships, counseling, and
internships, other projects supporting private sector development, including
partnerships and exchanges with U.S. institutions and organizations. The
Foundation objective is to promote innovative approaches to education and
training that will lead to socio-economic development, stimulate the private
initiative, and create new jobs. At later stages, the Foundation may expand
the focus to include community development and support for the non-profit
sector in addressing critical social problems through social
entrepreneurship. The Foundation will seek to support projects, ideas and
organizations that are catalytic and can have broad impact, as well as
creating potential for being successfully replicated, thus encouraging other
financiers or partners to follow suit.
The Foundation is a successor organization of the Romanian-American
Enterprise Fund ("RAEF"), which has invested successfully in Romanian small
and medium businesses since 1994. Under the committed leadership of the
Board of Directors and its management, RAEF has met the objectives laid out
for it by the U.S. Congress in the SEED Act, registering outstanding
results, high return on its investments and wide recognition of the
professionalism of its team. Over the years RAEF succeeded in leveraging its
capital by attracting alongside as partners high caliber financial
institutions such as European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
International Finance Corporation, DEG and FMO (the development banks of the
German respectively Dutch governments), and Black Sea Trade and Development
Bank. RAEF pioneered in the Romanian market several successful undertakings
such as the first micro loans program (that generated over 15,000 jobs
during its existence), the first small loan program based on cash flow
lending (which later became good practice in the banking sector),
established the first non-bank institution to issue residential mortgages,
developed the first consumer finance company, and launched the first
innovative energy efficiency fund. RAEF has also been one of the most
successful organization realizing privatizations, as investor or consultant.
The RAEF team has succeeded in raising EUR 110 million to launch a regional
fund, the Balkan Accession Fund.
For more information please contact Roxana Vitan at +(40 21) 207 7100 or
e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Vali
"Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of
greatness." (Carlo Goldoni)
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know
peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
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