Mexico confirms multiple projects for Latin infrastructure event

WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 17, 2006 -- Just days after the Latin American Leadership Forum Advisory Board released the final project invitee list, Mexico confirmed several participating projects, speakers and institutions, including significantly at the regional level from the state of Puebla.

Over 200 people are already registered. The fourth annual event will be held March 28-29 at New Orleans' Riverfront Hilton Hotel. Louisiana did US$1.9 billion in exports to Mexico in 2004, its largest market in the region. Top three components: crop production, chemical manufactures, and petroleum and coal products. Fully 30% of U.S. trade passes through the Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana.

• Confirmed Projects: Puebla Cargo Airport Expansion; La Celula Inland Port; the Valley of Mexico Water & Wastewater project; and the Mexico City UMT expansion are among the early project confirmations from Mexico (See Full Projects List). Water and wastewater projects included are valued at $1.83 billion.

• Confirmed Speaker: The Hon. Mario Marin, Governor of Puebla, Gov. Marin will present his strategic plan for making the state of Puebla a player in the global economy. Gov. Marin joins Robert Mosbacher Jr., President & CEO of OPIC, Linda Conlin, Director of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., and Yukiko Omura, Executive Vice President of the World Bank Group's MIGA along with key officials from NAFIN, BNDES, Banco do Brasil, CAF, IDB and other financial institutions who are participating specifically to make projects go forward (See Agenda).

• Featured Institution - NAFIN: The Mexico Development Bank, NAFIN, is confirmed for the Forum. Nafin recently won the Euromoney Project of the Year award for the financing of the Mexico City airport Terminal 2 Expansion. Director Alberto Urquiza Quiroz will co-host a workshop with Banco do Brasil entitled "Public Private Partnerships: Regional Innovations in Infrastructure Finance". Space is limited (See Workshops & Roundtables).

Register to reserve your spot in limited capacity workshops, and schedule private meetings with sponsors and speakers. Meetings are granted on a first come, first serve basis.

Among the Mexico projects, the Matamoros Water Rehabilitation Program is a US$76.6 million project that includes the complete restoration of the waterpipe grid, the installation of new pumping and water treatment plants and the modernization of the water distribution and recovery systems (See CG/LA Project Analytics).

The success of the Leadership Forum is due in large part to the quality and integrity of our esteemed sponsors. SAS, the world leader in business intelligence software has returned as the Forum's Platinum Sponsor. Gold Sponsors include: Aon; Banco do Brasil; Black & Veatch; Control Risks; Felsberg & Associates; Fowler Rodriguez Chalos; Howard Consulting Group; MIGA; Soluziona; Taylor DeJongh Financial Advisors; Zenteno Lira Mora Abogados; and Unión Fenosa. The World Trade Center New Orleans is the local host of the Forum.

CG/LA Infrastructure LLC (www.cg-la.com), which sponsors the Latin American Leadership Forum, is based in Washington, DC, with offices also in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For more information on the event, see www.lalf4.com.

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