EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES + + + + + ADVISORY COMMITTEE + + + + + MEETING + + + + + THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 + + + + + The Advisory Committee convened at 811 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., at 2:00 p.m., Heidi Heitkamp, Advisory Committee Chair, presiding. BOARD OF DIRECTORS RETA JO LEWIS, President and Chair JUDITH DELZOPPO PRYOR, Vice Chair SPENCER BACHUS, Member ADVISORY COMMITTEE HEIDI HEITKAMP, Chair SARA BOETTIGER SUNDAA BRIDGETT-JONES* NICOLE ELAM* ALONZO FULGHAM MAURICIO GONZALEZ DENNY HECK* BRAD MARKELL LISA-MARIE MONSANTO DANIEL PINHO ARCHANNA SHARMA VENKEE SHARMA JOSHUA WALKER* ELIAS ZEWDE STAFF PRESENT JIM BURROWS, Acting Chief Banking Officer JIM CRUSE, Senior Vice President, Office of Policy Analysis and International Relations LISA TERRY, Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics Officer REBECCA WEBB, Chief of Staff, Office of the Chair and President ALSO PRESENT JON FINER, Deputy National Security Advisor, The White House JUDE KEARNEY, Chair, EXIM Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee RACHEL KYTE, Co-Chair, EXIM Council on Climate RAMIN TOLOUI, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State* * Via videoconference CONTENTS Opening Remarks & Welcome 4 Introduction of The Honorable Heidi Heitkamp, Chair of EXIM Advisory Committee 8 Welcome Remarks 8 Introduction of Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee Chair and Subcommittee Co-Chairs 13 Introduction of 2022-2023 Advisory Committee Members 17 Ethics Briefing 38 EXIM Products and Services Overview 47 EXIM Competitiveness Report 71 Introduction of Guest Speakers 109 Guest Speaker - Ramin Toloui 110 Guest Speaker - Jon Finer 110 Open Committee Discussion 121 Public Comment 155 Closing Remarks 155 Adjournment 158 P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S 2:01 p.m. CHAIR LEWIS: Good afternoon. I want to welcome all of you to the first 2022/2023 in-person advisory committee that we're doing hybrid, and we have so many members on the call. I want to first thank Senator Heitkamp for her continued leadership on the advisory committee and to thank all the committee members for your dedication to supporting U.S. EXIM and U.S. exporters. Today, we'll ask to do something a little differently. In this hybrid meeting of the first advisory committee, we asked our chairs and co-chairs of the other committees and councils to join us this afternoon. I'm happy to say they're going to be here, and they're going to introduce themselves later on. I'm excited to be here because we have been unable to participate other than virtual, and so being able to be here in person is a milestone. I am joined by my board members, Vice Chair Judith Pryor, and Former Congressman Spencer Bachus. And I bring greetings also from Director Owen Herrnstadt who is actually on a plane coming back from the meeting with the team on the OECD. But one of the things that we're going to do later is we're going to be able to extend a very warm welcome to the Department of State Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Economics and Business, Mr. Toloui, and the White House. I'm very excited that if all things hold, we're going to be joined in-person by the Deputy National Security Advisor, Jon Finer. I want to thank everybody for taking the time to be here. I want to express my appreciation for the work of the committees and the subcommittees over the past year, and they have been able to help provide a framework for us to address two of the most important challenges facing the United States and our international markets, which is competition from China and climate change. You know, the insight Senator and other chairs that we garner from our committees is crucial in informing the work we do at EXIM to ensure we are successful as we transition into a new era. Back in April when we all passed, the board passed, the Make More in America Initiative, we're now working hard to generate awareness about the program. And we have been traveling. Our board, our staff has been traveling all over the country and all over the world speaking with business leaders, elected officials and other stakeholders to ensure they are fully aware of the support EXIM is eager to offer American Exporters. So I look forward to hearing your recommendations on how we can further leverage all the tools in our financing toolkit. I'm proud to know, and just so grateful and so honored, for the commitment that you have for EXIM. I want to close out just a few housekeeping notes to say that I know members, the chairs, some of them are going to join us. I know Nancy Flake, who will introduce herself later, Lezlee Westine, who is also one of our co-chairs, is going to be in and out. They also have board meetings, so they're going to be bouncing out, but they are co-chairs of their other committees, and we look forward to welcoming them at a later point when they hold their first in-person meetings. With that, I want to thank the team that's here. They'll get to know and meet. Many of you are going to have other staff that's going to be coming in and out and definitely here to join you all at 4:00. I am actually on a couple panels for the Congressional Black Caucus, so they tried to clone me today. So I may go step for about an hour, and I will be right back in as we continue this work. And the EXIM team, please raise your hand so you all will know who the EXIM people are. So they'll be here continuously, and then I'll be back before the Assistant Secretary and Mr. Finer comes. With that, I want to turn it over to the chair, Senator Heitkamp. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Thank you so much, and thank you for the invitation to do this again. When I started last year and was recruited to be chair of the advisory board, I was pretty clear. I don't want to be part of something that doesn't have an impact. If this is just box-checking, then tell everybody you're just checking the box and we'll find something else to do with our time. That is not what these advisory boards are. I have been, as chair last year, I sat through a number of the subcommittee meetings, was instrumental in reading and analyzing the reports. This is quality work, and it is not something that is a box-checking exercise. This is a critical piece of advice to a critical agency, critical entity of trade infrastructure in this country. And when we think about national security and we think about the things that are challenging us internationally, we know that our America's might and America's dominance, whether it's in human rights, whether it is in climate, is completely dependent on America continuing to dominate economically. And we can't do that if we're not accessing international markets, if we're not promoting the wonderful businesses small and large that operate in this country, that employ literally hundreds of thousands of people in this country. This piece of infrastructure has been challenged in the past and probably one of the reasons why I got the invitation is as a Sitting United States Senator, I served on the subcommittee on banking and even before that as somebody who was absolutely committed to advancing the interest of the Export-Import Bank. And I have to laugh because occasionally, some of my more conservative colleagues, and I think you probably know who they are, you say, doesn't it bother you that the United States runs a bank? And I said, no, because when I was Attorney General of the state of North Dakota, I ran a bank that was owned by the state of North Dakota, and I know how important that infrastructure was to the development economically to our state. And so as we look at the mission of the EXIM bank, as we look at putting the bank on a firm footing, stable footing, both politically and economically, we've got some makeup work to do in advancing the critical needs of the bank. We've got to be bold. And there's many things that I think institutionally our colleagues who work here are great institutional representatives can't say but we can as an advisory board. And one of the big pushes that we had last year was you're not bold enough. You're not saying it as clearly as you need to say it. And so I just want to kind of open with my philosophy, talk about how amazing this group of people is and entrepreneurs representing of labor, representing of emerging businesses. The wonderful gift that you're giving to the people of our country, which is the gift of time. It's the only thing that you can give that's not replaceable. You only have so much of that. And I'm glad that you have decided to spend your time here at the EXIM Bank by dedicating your time to the economic certainty of American business moving forward. With that, if I could just one point of personal privilege and having come from a state that had devastating floods that literally wiped out incredible areas of our state. And we got tremendous support from the people of this country. But that support wasn't just monetary; that support is recognizing that these are citizens of our country and they're hurting. And so if we can just take a minute to think good thoughts. If you're seeing the pictures coming out of Florida, you know that this is a devastating event to our fellow citizens. So if I could just ask for 30 seconds of silence so we can send all good wishes to the people of Florida. (Moment of silence observed.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Thank you so much, and I know they appreciate it. CHAIR LEWIS: Before I turn the agenda over to Senator, we are joined -- we are doing something a little differently. We did ask for the very first meeting to have our subcommittee chairs to join us, and we're going to ask them to give you one minute to introduce themselves. We will start with our Africa subcommittee. CHAIR KEARNEY: Madam Chair, I want to thank you again for the opportunity to work with you. We have come together again. We were in an administration many years ago, and I remember your commitments then and what the Senator said in her opening remarks about this not being a box-checking exercise. I will share that when you were asked to do this job, you and I spoke briefly, and you said to me that this job has to be consequential. Your time here has to be consequential. And so each of us is committed to that as well. You know my commitment to Africa. You've known that for a very long time. I want to bring all of my experiences and all of my fervor with regards to Africa to put it in front of you and the Board and to see how I can be helpful to your own goals but also so we can help Americans who want to play a role in the development of Africa. So I'm very happy to be here. Thank you very much. CHAIR LEWIS: And you are a lawyer with? CHAIR KEARNEY: Sorry about that. I'm the managing partner of ASAFO & CO. It's an international law firm, and I'm here in Washington, D.C. We have offices in Paris and in London, four African countries, Kenya, South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire and Morocco. And we are extremely active on the continent of Africa. When I left the administration in 1996, the Clinton Administration, I set about doing something that had not been done, and that is create a solely focused African practice, and that is what I've been doing ever since. CHAIR LEWIS: Dean Kyte for Climate? CO-CHAIR KYTE: Thank you. It's a great honor to be here. My name is Rachel Kyte. I'm dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. And together with Rodney Ferguson, the CEO of Winrock, we are the co-chairs of the Climate Council. Hurricanes have hit Florida many times over its history, but the temperature of the water means that the hurricanes get bigger and more dangerous. So it is a crisis, but it is also an opportunity for the United States and EXIM to help the world as we help ourselves. I look forward to serving. Thank you. CHAIR LEWIS: Thank you, Dean. Small Business, Nancy Flake Johnson. MS. JOHNSON: Thank you so much, Madam Chair, Senator, all of you for this opportunity to serve, to bring the perspective of small minority and women-owned businesses to this table. I have been involved in the development of small and minority businesses since 1994 when I served as the executive director of the Howard University Small Business Development Center. I now serve as the president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Atlanta, and we operate an entrepreneurship center and have done so for more than 20 years. I'm very pleased we're not checking the box. We're here to leverage the opportunity to grow small minority and women-owned businesses as well as big ones. We have an opportunity to create jobs, and doing so tap into the untapped talents of this thriving, robust, eager to expand sector of our nation. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. CHAIR LEWIS: And I think we have two of our co-chairs on the line. Is Nicole Elam for Women online virtually? Nicole, are you there? (Pause.) CHAIR LEWIS: And Bob Dreisewerd for the Small Business? Is he there virtually? (Pause.) CHAIR LEWIS: So before turning it over, also I would like my board members who are present, first starting with Vice Chair Pryor to give a minute of comments and then Spencer Bachus, our other chair. VICE CHAIR PRYOR: I'll just say welcome and thank you so much for being here. It's nice to see some returning faces and some new ones and then some friends from years past. It's a wonderful agency. We have an incredible mission, and I very much look forward to working with you to help us advance that mission. CHAIR LEWIS: Congressman Bachus. DIRECTOR BACHUS: I just would repeat what Judith said with good friends, and I have a lot of good friends on the committee. I've worked with some of them since I was on the Hill. Very talented group on our advisory committee. It is tremendously important for our country what you're doing and for Africa, which hopefully plays a great part in a partnership between the United States and Africa. I appreciate your service. CHAIR LEWIS: So Senator, before I turn it over to you, we have Rebecca Webb at the table who is my chief of staff. You have Jim Cruse who you're going to hear from as our SVP for Policy. We have Jim Burrows, our acting chief banking officer. You have Tammy Maxwell right here, who's the head of acting of our Small Business. We have Lisa Terry you're going to hear from, SVP for Ethics. We have a brand new national security advisor, Margaret Mullins, who joined us on Monday. And we have Adam Frost in the room who is our SVP for our China and Transformational project. I know you all know the people from external affairs. They are the one that run all of our advisory committees, whether it's Nicki (phonetic), whether it's Cassy (phonetic). I don't know whether Stephanie is -- she's in and out of the room. Chris Van Es, who's the senior vice president. So with that, I think before turning it over to you, I think I see Nicole. Is that you, Nicole? MEMBER ELAM: Yes. CHAIR LEWIS: You want to say hello real quick and then I'll turn it over to the Senator. MEMBER ELAM: Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Nicole Elam with the National Bankers Association. I'm off mute. CHAIR LEWIS: Unmute, Nicole. MEMBER ELAM: It says that I'm off mute. CHAIR LEWIS: Technology. Okay, we'll come back to her. Nicholas, so make sure it works. With that, Senator, we've taken up enough of your time. This is your meeting, and we'll turn it over to you and your advisory panel. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think what worked so well last year was basically understanding where everybody was coming from, having a chance to kind of get to know each other. We aren't going to be able to get know you in a minute, and so I'd like all of you to hold to a minute so that we can get through this very aggressive agenda. But in future meetings, we'll have a chance to really, I think, explore. So if you could just introduce yourself and then say one thing that you would like to accomplish on the advisory board. That would be enormously helpful. And I'm calling on you first, Lieutenant Governor Heck, my trusted friend. Can you talk, too? Can you hear me? PARTICIPANT: Your microphone is not on, sir. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Can you hear me now? Denny, you're up. Introduce yourself -- MEMBER HECK: Me? CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes, and introduce yourself and tell us why you want to be on the advisory board. MEMBER HECK: To serve with you, Heidi, there's no other good reason. (Laughter.) MEMBER HECK: My name is Denny Heck. I have the honor to be Lieutenant Governor of Washington State. I was elected in 2020 upon retiring after several terms in the U.S. House where I served on the financial services committee and had the honor to be known as the House's leading advocate for reauthorization of EXIM Bank. We did that twice. Notably, the second time without any poison pills. They were hard to fight back. And secondly, for the longest period in the Bank's history. All this made possible because of the incredibly competent work of Senator Heitkamp over at the Senate working so very, very well. I was honored to do that work. I'm incredibly honored to continue service on this committee. Thank you, Madam Chair. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific. And a great partner. I would be remiss if I didn't call out our partner, Lisa Cantwell, who is still in the United States Senate and a great proponent of the EXIM Bank. Sara, we're just going to go down the list. Sara Boettiger? There are you are, Sara. MEMBER BOETTIGER: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. I love all the passion and commitments and love that word consequential. I am an independent advisor right now. I just resigned in March from my role as the global head of Public Affairs and Sustainability for Bayer Crop Science. I spent a couple of decades working on international development for the Gates Foundation in many developing countries and middle-income countries working for their governments on trade and economic growth policy. I'm just delighted to be with this crowd. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Thanks, Sara. Nicole? Where's Nicole? There you go. Nicole? Okay, Rodney Ferguson. We'll come back. PARTICIPANT: Rodney is out of the country. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Rodney? PARTICIPANT: Out of the country. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Okay. Alonzo? Are you with us? MEMBER FULGHAM: Yes, I'm right here. I'm right in front of you, Senator. CHAIR HEITKAMP: There we go. (Laughter.) MEMBER FULGHAM: We got one present. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Getting a little nervous here. Maybe I'm in the Twilight Zone. (Laughter.) MEMBER FULGHAM: It is absolutely an honor and pleasure to be here with you today, and it's also great to be on the other side of the table. For 22 years, I was on the other side stacking these kinds of things, working in developing countries, trying to put the infrastructure in place to allow for small business to play. And now I get a chance to work with you and find opportunities for small business going forward. And I think there are a lot of opportunities on the climate environment side that we could playing a role in, and I look forward to using the U.S. government instruments to help us figure out how to do that. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Great, thanks. He's being modest, the former head of USAID. MEMBER FULGHAM: Small job. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. (Laughter.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Not inconsequential as it relates to America spreading good works and good will and opportunities for growing markets internationally. Mauricio? MEMBER GONZALEZ: Hello. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Mauricio Gonzalez, and I am the head of Export Finance North America for BNB Paribas. I am very honored to have been appointed to this U.S. EXIM advisory committee. BNB Paribas has a global ECA franchise and has been at the forefront of ECA financing tables for the past several years. I have 25-year banking career experience in the field of expert finance. That not only includes ECAs but also multilaterals, and I hope I can bring a valid insight leveraging on BNB Paribas Global's ECA expertise. On a personal level, I am highly motivated to discuss ways to ensure U.S. EXIM Bank leadership in the ECA global arena, which is where I am convinced that U.S. EXIM Bank should firmly stand, and with that efficiently support U.S. exporters. Thank you. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific, thanks. Brad representing Labor? MEMBER MARKELL: Thank you, Chair Heitkamp. Brad Markell from the AFL-CIO, which is the National Labor Federation of the United States, 58 unions, 12.5 million workers. My role there is to lead the climate, energy and manufacturing work. I'm excited to be back on the advisory council. It is a really important institution that we're advising here. And if I had my project for this year, it would be for us to realize some of these investments through the IRA, through the Basic Infrastructure Law to allow us to start exporting clean energy goods that we have not really exported before. That would be a big win. Making sure we have the lithium coming in, maybe utilizing some of the new tools that we have, but it's all about clean energy. It's a big, big opportunity for us. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific. Thanks, Brad. Lisa-Marie? MEMBER MONSANTO: Hi, I'm Lisa-Marie Monsanto. I'm a partner at Rimon, P.C., focusing on international finance. I've practiced for about over 25 years in the area of international finance, focused particularly on Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Africa and some Asia. I've focused on capital markets work but do a lot of work with SMEs, which is really my passion in terms of finding ways for SMEs to participate in a global market, whether it's from Africa or U.S. businesses wanting to do business there. It's an honor for me to serve here, and I look forward to finding ways to be of service. Thank you. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific, thanks. Dan, welcome back. MEMBER PINHO: Thank you. Yes, I'm glad to be back. Daniel Pinho from PNC Bank. We're in the top lenders of EXIM Bank, both the Working Capital Guarantee and the medium-term program. I also sit on the BAFT North American Council and co-chair the BAFT Structure Trade and Export Finance Committee, which focuses on EXIM Bank. And EXIM Bank has been my entire career, my entire professional career, 25 years working with EXIM Bank. So if there's something I can do in the advisory committee to help bring EXIM Bank to the forefront. I mean, the leadership, the innovation that I've seen and this institution is capable of doing it. CHAIR HEITKAMP: And if I could just add something. Incredible level of expertise and common sense and directness in offering advice, which I always appreciate. Mr. Sharma? MEMBER A. SHARMA: Hi, I'm Archanna Sharma. I'm a small business owner. We make fabrics, textiles in America. We started the business just about 12 years ago, and the mission was to make textiles in America and make them known throughout the world because America has a great textile industry that has unfortunately been exported overseas. So it is our mission to do that, and that's what we continue to do. We make reusable fabrics so as the point of climate change, et cetera. Everything that we make is meant to make a reusable product that will get rid of disposables, and we continue to advocate for that. My goal out here is to serve and to make EXIM more known to small business because we never knew about EXIM at all. It was just by fluke that I found EXIM and we were able to start exporting those fabrics, which are now known all over the world. I have to tell you during the COVID crisis, we were probably the only textile mill that remained opened and supplied millions and millions of yards of fabrics for making masks and surgical gowns, reusable ones, and they turned out to be better than N95s also. (Laughter.) MEMBER A. SHARMA: I'm a recent immigrant and immigrated to the United States in 2005, started the business in 2010, and I hope we can convert more people to investing in America because it's a beautiful country. It's the greatest country, and the small business deserves a chance to export overseas. I hope I can convince people to get more gifts that are made in America, and we can convert our gift-giving, or the swag policies, also to putting more American made products, and that's how we can stop a little bit of the imports coming in because we are kind of contributing to that too. I'm honored to serve in the committee. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Thank you. Just such an important voice, such an amazing entrepreneurial story, thank you. Mr. Sharma. MEMBER V. SHARMA: I'm thrilled with opportunity and honor to be able to be on the committee. Aquatech is at the honor and privilege of being engaged with the Bank since 1991. And as a small business, we could have never become an exporter without the support of the Bank. So when you ask, what do we want to do, I think I was engaged in the last committee on whole of government, I'd like to continue the effort on whole of government from a connectivity -- because the Bank enables small businesses to reach the world. We've done work in facilities in 60 countries, all with EXIM support. One of the biggest challenges is knowledge and connection, which is a jungle for small business to understand. And the tools exist, most don't know it. So we do water desalination, reuse, critical minerals extraction like lithium and climate adaptation technology. Thank you. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific, thank you. Dr. Walker? MEMBER WALKER: Can you guys hear me? CHAIR HEITKAMP: Now we can. MEMBER WALKER: All right. I'm Josh Walker. I'm president of Japan Society. I had a chance to meet with our chair up here in New York for UN Week, which is literally across the street from my office. We have this beautiful building, Japan House. I'm really excited and passionate about bringing American exporters out to where the future is, and that's really the Asian century. There's a lot of competition. It was already referenced, China and climate. I think there's an opportunity to work with our allies around the world, not just Japan, but a lot of the global multinational companies that are looking at the small businesses that we heard. So I'm looking forward to contributing there and had the privilege to serve in different administrations as an academic and a recovering diplomat as well. I'm excited to bring that non-profit and civil society perspective to this important work we're doing together, and I'm honored to serve. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific. Dave White? Last but not least, but you're too used to that since your last name begins with Z. MEMBER ZEWDE: I'm always the last one. (Laughter.) MEMBER ZEWDE: Always the last one. I have interesting story to tell you. I'll make it short. I came to the United States as an exchange student. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Speak a little closer to the mic. MEMBER ZEWDE: I came to the United States as an exchange student some 50 years ago. I don't want to tell you how old I am, but that's when I came. I attend school at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois. One thing I wanted to do was to design and build potable water supply for my city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. If I could do it, I want to do it in all over Africa. Africa, as you all know, is challenged in terms of potable water supply, in terms of water energy. We started KHAFRA -- I'm one of the partners in KHAFRA -- in 1986. Five of us started, and we've been in business since 1986. We formed a group called KHAFRA Global to go to Africa to do nothing but potable water supply and renewable energy. I am pleased I am part of this team. I'm hoping I can contribute to the committee. I'm also hoping I can do work in Africa through EXIM. Currently, we have work prospects in Senegal. If all works out right, we have also another prospect in Ethiopia. Hopefully, it would be part of my contribution. Thank you very much. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific. Thank you so much. Nicole, I think we can hear you now. You want to pop on? (Pause.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: If I can just wrap it up in terms of introductions, you know that this is an amazing group of people with an amazing depth of experience. Think about what you've heard as people have gone around and the work that you've done. But the one thing that connects us all, that unites us, is our commitment to making sure that the EXIM Bank is viable and available and known, especially amongst small business regionally, as an entity that can in fact propel this American dream forward. So I just want to thank you all. You represent different sectors, but we have a common purpose in meeting the goals. Not just institutionally of the EXIM Bank, but more importantly of the entrepreneurial legacy of the United States of America, which requires capital. And capital, sometimes that's difficult to acquire without some kind of support from guarantees. When you look at kind of moving forward here, I want you all to be thinking and communicating back to the EXIM Bank, back to me, about these are things that we really need to talk about. Meeting like this, our first meeting a year ago, what we kept hearing is whole of government. And that wasn't something that was on the Agenda. But yet from the experience of knowing the -- you know, the right hand doesn't always know what the left hand is doing. We got to have a whole of government approach. We were able to really make some, I think, very positive suggestions as a result of something that really wasn't on the radar. I want you to know we're ears open, we're willing to listen to broadening or narrowing the agenda, focusing on what this advisory board wants to focus on. It may not always what Reta wants, but we are the advisory board so we get to decide what the level of our focus is. And I would say to the advisory board, if you're not a member of the other subcommittees, if you do get a chance to attend any of those meeting, you are going to be amazed at the quality of work that's done on those committees. It's worth an hour of your life or a couple hours of your life to listen to the discussion on China, to listen to Sub-Sahara Africa, to listen to the conditions of women in business, small business, that you will be proud of the work that's done at EXIM and proud of the advisory board structure if you attend those meetings as I have been. Okay, we're just trying to make sure that we cover everybody. Sundaa? Bridgett-Jones? MEMBER BRIDGETT-JONES: Thank you, Senator. Hello, everyone. I'm Sundaa Bridgett-Jones. I'm the vice president and chief partnership and advocacy officer for the Global Energy Alliance, a new enterprise that's started by the Rockefeller Foundation. The focus is really on clean energy transitions in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and Caribbean. I'm quite excited to join after spending about a decade in the Foreign Service with USAID and serving in previous administrations. So it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Is that Nicole that just popped on? No. Okay, I'm going to turn it back for an ethics briefing from your staff here telling us what we all can and can't do, so pay attention. No one wants to see their name on the paper. MS. TERRY: My mic is not working, so I'll try to talk as loud as possible -- (Simultaneous speaking.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Lisa, why don't you just come up here and sit where the Chair was sitting. MR. BURROWS: When you have your mic, turn it off. If there's a red light, hit the button if you're not talking. Three are allowed at a time. MS. TERRY: Thank you, Jim. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Words of wisdom from -- (Simultaneous speaking.) (Laughter.) MR. BURROWS: Ethics officer and IT. MS. TERRY: I was about to say. He doubles as our IT guy, right? Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Chair Heitkamp. But Chair Lewis, I think has left. Vice President Pryor and Director Bachus. And welcome to all of you. My name is Lisa Terry. I'm the senior vice president and chief ethics officer here at EXIM. I have been at EXIM for 15 years. I was here for seven years, left to take another general counsel position for five years and I came back, so that says a lot. And I have about 25 years' experience in ethics, so I'm just going to give you a brief overview of the ethics or principles that will guide you as you serve on this committee. Just as background, I want to give a little color and context before I get into the slide here. President Biden signed an executive order on ethics on day one in office, thereby setting the tone for his administration and for all of us. That executive order places an extra layer of ethics rules on his political appointees that they must agree in writing to abide by. The president's, Biden's ethics commitments, is one of the most stringent in U.S. history. Also by way of background, you probably know Chair Lewis places a great importance on ethics and expects the highest standards of conduct from herself and from all of us. And lastly as an example of that, the Chair's 2022 strategic plan includes four goals, one of which is grounded in ethics, and that is to promote the integrity and transparency of our operations and our processes. With that, I'd like to start with the presentation. Can I have the first slide, please? I'm going to read from this. It's closer. First, I want to talk about your status as an advisory committee member. Of course, you know that you are not employees of the United States government. So that means you are not subject to all the laws, ethics rules, that apply to us. And there's a vast, vast array. We have a robust ethics program of about six of us to keep us all in compliance. Those rules do not apply to you, which means you don't have to file financial disclosure reports, which we are all subject to. And you are not limited in the types of assets that you may own. However, and this is a big however, you are in a position of public trust. Advisory committee members must avoid any actions that are either unethical or appear to be unethical. And I just want to pause for a moment on that word appear. Appearances of misbehavior and unethical behavior can be as damaging as EXIM to an actual violation, so we take appearances very, very seriously. Therefore when acting in your personal or professional capacity, please do not use your position on the advisory committee for private gain, either for yourself or for someone else. Another principle is that you should not take advantage of any non-public information you may learn as an advisory committee member. Of course here at EXIM, we are all privy to very sensitive information that obviously should not be used for your benefit for another. For example, if you learn that a company is about to receive EXIM financing for a substantial export contract that will double its revenues, you may not disclose that information to others or use it for your advantage. You probably know there are a lot of serious criminal laws like insider trading laws that go well beyond this room. I just wanted to make that clear so that you understand your obligation with type of information that you come across here in your position. Next, you should not use your position on the advisory committee to induce another to provide a benefit to you or another. For example, if you are an EXIM customer or if you know someone who has an application pending with EXIM, you may not use your position on the committee to gain special access for yourself or for another. You may not identify yourself as an advisory committee member, call staff here and request expedited processing for any pending applications. But of course, you may take advantage and use any processes that are available to the public in the ordinary course of business, so it's very important to keep those lines clear. Next, you should not use your position on the advisory committee in a manner that could imply that EXIM Bank sanctions or endorses a particular private entity's business activities. For example, you should refrain from making any statements about potential deals or commitments on behalf of EXIM without proper approval. Chair Lewis takes this notion very seriously. We have a process in place for making any public statements or making any commitments on behalf of EXIM, so you should contact someone in the Office of Communications or the Chair's office if the need arises for you to make a statement on behalf of EXIM. Similarly if a commercial banker you know is promoting an innovative trade finance initiative, the banker could use your name but not your EXIM title in his or her marketing materials. Finally, a word about advocacy. While you're serving on the advisory committee, questions may arise regarding the impact of your role on the committee, on engagement and political advocacy on behalf of EXIM in your personal or official capacity. This can be a very gray area, so if you have any questions about that, please get in touch with me. There are some things you are permitted and not permitted to do, so you may engage in advocacy relating to EXIM in your personal or private professional capacity. That means as you are sitting here today in association with your firm, but you may not engage in advocacy on behalf of EXIM in your official capacity as a committee member, individually or as a group based upon anti-lobby restrictions on the use of federal funds. EXIM staff may not provide any advice or guidance regarding your advocacy efforts on behalf of EXIM in your personal or private professional capacity. And you may not identify yourself as a member of the committee when engaging in that type of advocacy. That concludes my remarks. I have some contact information on the last page here, and I believe you will get an electronic copy of this presentation. I can take any questions if anyone has any questions. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think that frequently we say it's best to act first and ask for permission later. Not in this area. (Laughter.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: This area, if you even think -- and Number 1, think about your role. If you have any doubt, there are people here who can help you navigate that direction and give you the advice that you need to approach this role from an ethical standpoint. So what I would just say is when in doubt, ask. That's not the advice I usually give. I usually when in doubt, act, and then when they say don't do that, you go I didn't know. Don't do that. Anyway, any other questions? Any thoughts? Any comments? Any concerns? (Pause.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Okay, we're going to move on then. For the next presentation, which is Jim Burrows, who is going to give us an overview of EXIM products and services. MR. BURROWS: Thank you, Senator. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Thank you, Jim. Be sure you talk into because it's really, I think, for people online to hear. MR. BURROWS: Great. If I'm not projecting, just raise your hand and I'll turn up the volume. I'm Jim burrows. I'm the acting chief banking officer here at EXIM. Second slide, please. Next slide. This slide that's shown on the viewfinder is the reporting structure. I'm the acting chief banking officer. I report up through the Chair, Reta Lewis. The other onto the right is Tammy Maxwell. She's the acting senior vice president in the Office of Small Business. According to the charter, reports directly to the Chair, but the Chair has also a dotted line to the chief banking officer, so there's continuity in banking function. And then there's also David Sena who runs our Office of Board Authorized Finance and all the medium and long-term programs report to him, and the short-term programs report up through Tammy Maxwell in the Office of Small Business. And then I as the chief banking officer do coordination for short, medium and long-term. Next slide, please. So who we are. Most of you know, we're the official export credit agency of the United States. There's a 100-plus export credit agencies around the globe and growing daily. So when we were asleep a number of years ago, we couldn't do transactions. Our friends, like I would say, on the sports field we're all friends off the field. But in the field, we're all competing. So when we were asleep, they were basically eating our lunch. And so now that we're up back and running, we work with them hand in glove. We do co-financing, and we work in hand in glove with them, but we're always competing for deals around the globe as it relates to U.S. exporters. So we level the playing field so the U.S. companies can win. We're a job agency, so we don't say we sustain U.S. jobs, we grow U.S. jobs, but we're here to make sure that the U.S. exporters win. We fill gaps, and we work with the private sector, the lenders and brokers, when they can't or won't assist the U.S. exporter. And then we level the playing field so we can win deals around the globe for our U.S. companies. Next slide, please. Who we are? We're small business-focused. Eighty-nine to ninety percent of our transaction on a given year are focused or are dedicated to small businesses. No transaction is too large or small. We've done small deals on export credit insurance for a dog food, our dog supply company that wanted to sell overseas, wanted to sell some of their goods to a foreign buyer. Their buyer did not want to have cash in advance, so we used something called export credit insurance, which allowed them to sell on account term. And in the event that they could not repay that, they could put a claim in through EXIM, but I'll talk about that in a few minutes. Next slide, please. Our financing really does make the difference. We level the playing field so American companies, U.S. companies, can win. We take the risk out of the selling abroad, and we supplement or complement the private sector when they can't or won't stand in for U.S. exporters. Next slide, please. Our products cross the gamut from pre-export financing with our Working Capital Guarantee Program to post-export financing with our insurance and guarantees. Next slide. One of our main programs on the short term is our Working Capital Guarantee Program. We work with delegated authority lenders around the United States. So if a client needs capital for equipment, supplies, labors or whatever, we will step in with the bank and offer a guarantee so they can use their accounts receivable and our borrowing base. It allows them to do the loan and takes the risk off of the financial institution and puts it on EXIM in the event of a default. And then we provide repayment terms. Our repayments to the lenders are very attractive. So on advance rates, we advance up to 90 percent on export-related accounts receivable and up to 75 percent on export-related inventory including work in progress. Next slide, please. So how does it work? So an exporter has a sale and they need financing of accounts receivable or inventory. They approach their bank. The bank is willing to do a working capital deal and use the accounts receivable or the inventory as collateral. They may not, so that's when EXIM will stand in with our guarantee that delegated authority would do that transaction. The lender approves that loan with our guarantee, and then the exporter has the funds to fulfill those sales. Next slide, please. Export credit insurance. This is a product where it allows exporters to sell on account terms, like I mentioned earlier. They can sell on 30, 60, 90, 120 days. We'll go up to a year. They use our product to be able to sell and take the risk out of not getting paid by their foreign buyer. So what happens is when -- I'll turn the slide. We'll go through the flow chart. So there's an international buyer. The exporter needs insurance because they want to sell on account terms. They apply for an EXIM insurance policy. It's approved. We approve their buyers. They ship on the policy, pay their premium. And in the event that their buyer does not repay them, EXIM stands in and will make them whole, minus any deductible, and then we go after the foreign buyer for repayment. Next slide, please. We're always asked what industries do we support. We support all industries from manufacturing to metal equipment, services, renewables, Ag. You name it, we'll support it. Next slide, please. There's a country limitation schedule. It's kind of our bible on exim.gov. We have a resource tool called the country limitations schedule. For 180 countries that are out there, it will tell you whether EXIM is open in the private and public sector, whether short, medium or long-term. Next slide, please. We have a few restrictions at EXIM. We're not allowed to finance military or defense-related products. On our medium and long-term programs, they have to be shipped on a U.S. vessel, they have to be shipped from a U.S. port. And then there's U.S. content. We have a U.S. content on our short-term programs. It's 81 percent. On our medium and long-term, it's 85 percent. Next slide, please. So then there's a new program that the board approved in April called Making More in America. It's a domestic finance program. What it was intended to do as part of the executive order from the administration, they ask for the agency to look at our programs and where we could shore up the supply chains. So this program is rolled out and approved by the Board in April. It allows us to finance domestic facilities, manufacturing, et cetera. There is not a content per se requirement. It's related to an export nexus. Basically, it's 25 percent of the manufacturing or the product that's produced will be exported. But if it's a transformational or China-related program, or if it's a small business, we can go down to as low as 15 percent. I'm happy to answer any questions. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Are there any questions? Any thoughts? Any need for additional information? I guess I have one question. Since you've initiated the program in April, how many credits have you done under that program and what's the value of those credits? MR. BURROWS: So we have not approved -- there's a lot of discussion on the program right now. We have our first application in-house, and we have about a dozen and dozen and a half interested parties, but we have our first application that we got about a month ago. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Okay, and so when do you expect that's going to be approved or disapproved? MR. BURROWS: So it's going through the due diligence process now, and it will have all transactions under the Making More in America program have to go to the Board for consideration. So we're hoping over the next several months we'll have to the Board. CHAIR HEITKAMP: From the time that you initiate or somebody initiates a credit with your request guarantee, how long does it usually take for due diligence for the EXIM Bank to kind of react and respond? MR. BURROWS: Depending on the complexity of the transaction, it could be several weeks to months, or it could be longer. It just really depends on the complexity of the deal. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Okay. What's your average? MR. BURROWS: Probably for a project and structure deal, probably about six months to a year. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Six months? MR. BURROWS: Mm-hmm. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Do you think that's good? MR. BURROWS: Well, we're always looking to do it quicker and faster. We had a renewable deal that didn't go through the domestic Making More in America Program, but it was under our renewable mandate, and we got that done in about eight weeks. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Okay. I think one of the questions, and we went through this last year, talking about scheduling and frustration of manufacturers who thought that the process was not onerous but just took a long time. And so I think that one of the things that we'll be watching as you advance this new proposal that it doesn't take forever to get this done. MR. BURROWS: Well, we just to need to make sure -- that's why we need to work in hand in glove with our exporters and our lending partners to make sure that we have a completed application, we have the financial documents needed, and then we can move this through expeditiously. CHAIR HEITKAMP: In most of these transactions, and Dan, I think you can weigh in here. In most of these transactions, there's already been a certain level of due diligence done, right? MEMBER PINHO: (Speaking off mic.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. MEMBER PINHO: Yes, on the medium-term process and working capital, yes. MR. BURROWS: On the short-term programs, we usually can move very quick. Our insurance policies, we can do it as quickly as the application comes in the morning, we underwrite in the afternoon, and it's bound in the evening. That's really fast. But normally within ten days, an insurance policy is an application is received and it's approved. On the working capital, it can take a couple weeks just depending on the lender. MEMBER PINHO: I think the problem I think is the medium-term these days. I think staffing -- we need more underwriters in terms of being able to process. What we're seeing is -- that had been a long time, a lot of liquidity in the market. But now with interest rates increasing and less liquidity, the demand for EXIM Bank is coming, and it's going to be coming strong. That's on me. I think the -- (Simultaneous speaking.) MR. BURROWS: One of the thing -- (Simultaneous speaking.) MEMBER PINHO: -- ready for what is coming. MR. BURROWS: Under Chair Lewis's leadership, we have a focus on the medium-term programs, looking at that program, modernizing it, bringing it into the 21st century. I've taken actually one person out of the day-to-day responsibilities to look at that, work with our lender community and our exporters, talk to internal clients and external clients about what is working, what's not working, where we can modernize the program, we can streamline processes. We worked with Dan and the P&C team on where the deficiencies are, and we will have a presentation in front of the Chair in the next couple of weeks and then hopefully implement the changes that need to be made in order to get that program up and running and make it efficient. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Terrific. Thanks so much. Any other questions? Any questions from any of our folks online? (Pause.) MEMBER HECK: Madam Chair? CHAIR HEITKAMP: Ms. Sharma? MEMBER A. SHARMA: Yes. For the working capital loan -- CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think just getting into the mic is really helpful. MEMBER A. SHARMA: For the working capital loan, is there a minimum amount for how much loan can be taken? MR. BURROWS: It really depends on the -- we work with our delegated authority lenders, so we don't have a minimum. It's really is what the banks that you're working with. Normally what happens is when somebody comes in and needs a working capital deal, if you don't go directly to your lender that uses our program and comes in, say, went through one of our regional offices or you meet us at one of the events that we may be around the U.S., we will ask who you bank with. If the lender is a part of our program, we put you in concert with them. But if not, then we'll send you to a lender. We'll give you a lender list to work from. But we don't have a minimum. It is really is the lender that you're working with. MEMBER A. SHARMA: Okay. That may be a problem with small business. We were directed to BB&T, and the minimum that they wanted to do was $5 million. MR. BURROWS: So if that's the case -- so we've had that happen. When that happens, definitely call us. We know lenders that will do much smaller transactions, and we will give you the list of those who will do some smaller transactions. MEMBER A. SHARMA: Okay, thank you. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Denny, you have a question, comment? MEMBER HECK: Yes, Madam Chair. This is a more generic question, but in an earlier meeting we had a conversation about the utility and value some of the advisory board member would find in a periodic dashboard, and I was just kind of wondering what the status of that was? It would get to a lot of the questions. Otherwise, I'd asked Mr. Burrows, but is that still in the works? MR. BURROWS: I'm sorry, what -- CHAIR HEITKAMP: Can you repeat that, Denny? MR. BURROWS: Sorry, what kind of dashboards are you looking for? MEMBER HECK: Dashboard for the Bank's activity. How many transactions and what sizes in sectors and the like just to give us periodic updates on where we stand. MR. BURROWS: On our website is a list of our banks. I'm not sure if there is a list by the number of transactions and the numbers they do, but we can look into that. There is the Congressional map that you go into by state and look at the deals that have been done, dollar volumes. You can sort it by sector, et cetera. But I don't know if it drills down into the banking level. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Denny, there's an amount that -- the report to Congress is pretty granular. I guess that's something we can take a look at what is currently produced if it would be helpful for the advisory board to have more granular data or data presented in a more forward-facing manner as we move forward. I think that's something we can put on the future agendas. MEMBER HECK: I was hoping that we could get that report more periodically. The report to Congress is wonderfully replete with the information, but it's an annual report. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Okay. DIRECTOR BACHUS: Senator. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes? Congressman. DIRECTOR BACHUS: On the larger transactions, it's Governor Heck, and you and I are aware they have to get Congressional notification. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Right. DIRECTOR BACHUS: And we have to notify NAC. We have to satisfy additionality, which sometimes takes quite a bit of time because that has to go through the user trading desk or whatever at the banks. In contracting, we have to follow certain statutory requirements. Some of what slows us down are statutory requirements. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think what the lieutenant governor is trying to say is, look, let's not wait for an annual report. Let's figure out where we are kind of month-to-month so that we can better understand who's coming and where we are. Is that a good way to paraphrase what you're talking about, Denny? MEMBER HECK: Yes, although I'll be perfectly satisfied with a quarterly report. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Okay. MEMBER FULGHAM: Madam Chair, could I just echo on a comment as well. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. MEMBER FULGHAM: I think that's going to be incredible important to us in our work that we're doing. We're only here for a year. If we don't have real metrics that we're following and we can't figure out what the backlogs, whether or not the process is proceeding in an expeditious fashion, we can't tell if we're doing good work or not. Otherwise, we're just passing paper. So if we can get that granularity and start to understand where the backlogs are, the concerns are, our frustrated constituents out there that are trying to use the service, it makes us a better committee, I think. MR. BURROWS: There are monthly reports that go up to Congress by district about what volumes are done by month, dollars and transaction numbers. If that's the type of reporting that you want, it's readily available. We can create reports. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Why don't we do this, Jim. Why don't you send us what current reports are being generated. We can look at them and say, this is adequate. We just need to have an in-real-time kind of opportunity to look at them. MR. BURROWS: Sure. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think the point that Dan made is really critical. We are in a completely different interest rate environment than what we were last year or really for the last ten years. That is going to have an impact. Maybe there's an opportunity there that we're not recognizing, but I think to follow up on some Dan's comments about how has the interest rate changed created barriers but also opportunities for the EXIM Bank to be more forward-looking with other institutions. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes, Brad? Hey, that's why we're here. MEMBER MARKELL: Thank you, Chair. An important part of the support for the Bank and an important part of why frankly Labor was able to push the reauthorization through, just to be pretty frank about it, is that we understand the job creation and the quality job creation that comes from exports. I'm wondering in the application process, do the applicants have to provide that data? Is there a post-transaction data requirement? How can we make sure that we're understanding all the good things that are flowing from the transactions that the Bank is putting forth? MR. BURROWS: So job numbers are calculated. We use our jobs calculator, and it's validated through CFO and other mechanisms. We also ask on applications about jobs supported on a lot of the different transactions, so we do have that data and can report on it. MEMBER MARKELL: Is job quality a part of the data collection because it -- (Simultaneous speaking.) MR. BURROWS: I think we probably need to get the right data people and the analytic people that actually do these numbers. I run the banking function, so I don't do the actual reporting, but we probably should have our CFO in here. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. Speaking from someone who did a lot of economic development work in state-based, is there any audit to the numbers that are promised? So that's something to also ask. They can say we're going to create 100 jobs that pay on average $100,000 a year in benefits. Well, good. Did you do it? MEMBER MARKELL: It's easier to write the application than it is to write the checks, that's for sure. (Laughter.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Any other questions? MEMBER A. SHARMA: Yes, one more. I guess we're here as the advisory committee. The previous years' advisory committees, do we know what benefit, what came out of those advisory committees, what kind of reporting that was that came out from there? Because if we don't have feedback on how the committees doing, to what Alonzo also said, then we don't know what we're doing actually. It's not checking the box like we already started with. I think we're asking a lot of questions, but as the committee we have to decide to say what do we want, what kind of reporting do we want to see. We should agree on that as a committee, not as a one-by-one, but agree on the reporting metrics so that it's easy to comply with. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. I will say this. This is our first meeting. I haven't had a chance to talk to Chair Lewis, but what I would like is we gave you a list of recommendations a year ago. How many of those have been adapted, where are you at in processing the work that we already gave you? I think that's a fair question. That's probably not something that we're going to answer today, but I think it's a heads-up for you all, for the Bank, to expect that we're going to want a report like that. And I would expect for the committees, you're going to want to know, okay, the Small Business Committee recommended these things. What have you done, what are the next steps? I think maybe follow on from the work that was done a year ago and even before that. I'm not as familiar with that. We're going to have to move along because we're going to have some guest speakers. James, that competitiveness report. MR. CRUSE: Yes. Thank you, Senator. I'm Jim Cruse, the senior vice president for Policy and International Relations. I don't have much experience except at the Bank, but I do have a few decades of doing this. In fact, I've been responsible for writing every one of the competitiveness reports, and therefore going through this process about 47 times. I'm here to give you a sense of what it's like to go through this. You have a lot of things you can do, as the Senator and others have indicated. A lot of things you can't do, as Lisa told you about. But you have thing that you have to do, all right. As a mandate from Congress, this advisory committee is responsible for effectively doing an audit in a very informal sense of the findings that we generate in the competitiveness report. That language you see right there, I'm not going to bother to read it, but it basically says you have a mandate to provide your suggestions on whether we have been accurate in what we have found. In effect, looking at the next chart, what the competitiveness report does is that we do a lot of information and data and trends analysis and give you a picture. There is then a very extensive exporter and banker survey, and they give their opinions. And then last but not least, you give yours. It's not an editing of the report. It is a totally separate, on-top-of view of what's there, so you're not reviewing and editing and amending the report. Your job is simply to comment on the report in terms of its accuracy, if there is any imprecision and specifics that you'd like to add. In effect, what are the components that you're going to be looking at? What we try to give each year is a summary of what's been going on worldwide in activity. Who are the leading ECAs in activity, where is there activity, what type of activity. Are there issues emerging? The new programs, new areas of expertise. For example, in the past few years related to COVID, a lot of ECAs have gotten into domestic programs as a way to expand the capacity to export in their countries. That's become perhaps the leading edge of new activity. Every year, we try to take a picture of that opaque monster called China. So the picture is a little fuzzy each year, a little vague around the corners. In fact, it's gotten vaguer every year, but we do our best to give you a picture of what they're doing, how they're doing it, where they're doing it, and what impact that has on the U.S. and other. As I said, we have this survey which gives you a very up-front, I call it a frank and full, picture from the users as to what they think of Bank's service, Bank products and Bank results. I think you'll find that a useful thing to look at now as you're beginning your service. If you look at the report that we just issued and look at the survey, that will give you a sense of where at least the users felt we were about this time year. That might be a good starting point for anything that you want to think about. And then a big chunk of the report is a variety of appendices required by Congress to update them on the status of things that you're not going to care about, honestly. So your focus is really on the first three or four things. For example, last year we focused on the developments in doing domestic finance and how all the ECAs had been focusing on that because they needed so much support in domestic economies. This year, we will be reporting on the fact, as Jim mentioned, that the EXIM Bank has joined the movement. And we have started our own domestic financing program made in America. As with everybody else, every other ECA, we have targeted to the issues of areas that we think are most necessary, which are supply chain and we'll see what happens. But the main point from the competitiveness point of view is that there's a trend in new programs, and the Bank has joined the trend. We also every year try to get a sense of whether we are effectively leveling the playing field, which has to do not just with the rates and terms, but with the types of programs, the structure programs that are provided. And every year, there are changes that emerge. For example, just recently there's a notification that the Swiss has changed their content policy. So every year we have to update it too to give a sense of where we are on all that. Recently in the past three or four years, this report has identified what ECAs are doing in the world of climate finance. In fact, the two issues, domestic finance, the climate finance, are the two pillars upon which most of the ECAs are building their activity these days. Just this week, the French ECA announced that starting at the end of this year, they would no longer support any fossil-based transactions. At the same time, many ECA programs have added features to give special benefits, special incentives, special programs that support renewables, climate, et cetera. So it's not a matter of how much you do each year; it's a matter that the ECAs are turning the focus of their attention, the focus of their support, to the development of climate-based solutions that will help in the world and its evolution. So we try to keep track of that, give you a sense of who's doing what and how, and that might give you an idea of what one can do here. That's the whole point. And then lastly as I said, we try to give you a sense of China. Last year, we noted that all of a sudden their export credit activity had collapsed. We don't know why. We were able to estimate and guess. This year, in fact just two days ago in the Wall Street Journal, there was a big article about the Chinese realigning their Belt and Road Initiative. And one of the things they are realigning is the way they finance. They have experienced a tremendous amount of losses. We don't know how much. We just know tremendous because the Chinese have gone, oh. And when they go oh in public, that means it was a pretty big pain. On that basis, they are thinking of changing the way they finance. We don't know how, but it took five to ten years to figure out what their patterns are now. I hope it doesn't take us another five to ten years to figure what they've changed to, but that is an important element because China is a major competitor in many of the things that we do. And we need to know what they're doing in order to match it. So we spend quite a bit of time developing the information and trying to figure out what's their pattern, where is it, and what do we need to do. So where do we go from here? That's what you have to do, and that's what you'll be looking at to evaluate it. This report is due June 30th of every year. So June 30th of 2023, we have to issue this report to Congress. Before that, you will get a copy sometime -- hopefully, there's going to be an advisory committee scheduled in early June. I don't know if anybody's done that yet, but there really does need to be such so that you can go over the draft report that we have put together, take a view, get all of the information that you'll develop in your various committees, including the committee that you will probably form on just this report and write your two to five page analysis. And then we'll be able to send it up to the Hill. This will came at you in a big package when it gets done, but we will give you a summary, and we will give you all the help necessary to enable you to review it and comment productively. Any questions? CHAIR HEITKAMP: Questions? Thank you. You've got someone who has been doing this for years and years. This is a real opportunity to kind of figure out what the trends are -- he's not shy about offering advice or insights. Questions? Anyone online, questions? Yes, Brad. MEMBER MARKELL: Thank you for the report. On the Chinese data, that's official ECA data. Do we have a look at Belt and Road and other things that they're doing. A lot of what they're financing overseas, for example, is Belt and Road and not ECA. China's exports are still skyrocketing. Of course, they're still managing their currency at a band. But what do we know and how does that impact our thinking? These kinds of non-ECA transactions. MR. CRUSE: Well, they admit to having two official ECAs, and we know they have several other financing entities that deal with things like the Belt and Road. Everything we get about China is derived. It is not direct. They publish very little. They'll give you a total like we did $100 million, but they won't give you any components. So we have developed a variety of sources, some from places I can't tell you about, that give us indications as to what their volumes and activities are. So we try to provide that. On Belt and Road, yes, we have a pretty good idea of what they spent and who has been financing it. So we have a decent picture, but I keep saying it's derived from estimates and pictures and various sources. There's a lot of people that try to understand what China's doing. And each of them contributes to each other a little piece. And from that, we try to build a whole. MEMBER MARKELL: I would just maybe suggest as we're looking at the next cycle if we can find room in what we're allowed to do to kind of describe that bigger piece and get a sense of our competitiveness in that light. Not saying a big, long piece, but some characterization may be useful. DIRECTOR BACHUS: One thing, Brad, I think is good news for us is that what's happening in Ukraine with the energy as energy prices have gone up, agricultural with Ukraine and Russia, the lack of exports. That's hurt China much more than any other manufacturing country, probably. India, too. But China imports 90 percent of their energy. We're some place between 40 and 50 percent with our Shell, so we got a real advantage there in our availability of domestic energy. Secondly, they import about 80 percent of their food where we're pretty -- I guess we export. And then of course they have Xi. He is suppressing a lot of the experts, choosing people that are choosing to him and not sometimes the best qualified. Look at what's happening with COVID. So they're undergoing a tremendous amount of stress. In fact, you hear about their property problems, but they've got a multiple of problems. I know we've always kind of said, wow, they're a real threat. Even though you do hear that they're now getting -- they're going to get some Russian oil, but it's a drop in the bucket. It would take ten years to build a pipeline from Russia to China to supply gas. I'll look for China to have so many internal problems. It's going to be a real advantage for us. The problem, and I'll end with this, is that we were shut down for four years. We lost a tremendous amount of -- CHAIR HEITKAMP: I want to put in a plug too for our subcommittee on China and the work that they do. It's really remarkable the volunteer hours, the quality of volunteer hours that have gone into this. It's always analysis based on some perspective, but this is not the transparency that you would see in other Western countries. I'm going to go to Dan and then Elias. MEMBER PINHO: Thank you. Being on a receiving end of the competitiveness report, not as long as you, but I have participated in many surveys throughout my career. And one of the things that we welcome is now the highlight of the domestic program because it will put a good light into export working capital and all the Make More in America because it was very helpful through the reauthorization to educate people on the domestic programs, especially the Working Capital Guarantee Program because most people are not aware. And now showing that the other ECAs also have this will be very important. Even to compare and to improve on the domestic programs as well. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. Elias? MEMBER ZEWDE: I see our response to China's Silk Belt Way Initiative is just simply a reaction to it. What do we have the similar program that we have to counter their Silk Road Global initiative? What kind of program do we have in America to counter to that rather than being initiative. I mentioned earlier after World War II we had the Marshall Plan. It was a grand plan. Now, we have this challenge. What if we have too much rather than being responsive? That's my question. MR. CRUSE: Well, we have a program. We do have a China program, we do have a special office, and we have made a variety of special policies designed to do just that. At a charter of 2019 for the Bank spelled out a whole new area of mandates for the Bank regarding China. We have developed a program. We have it staffed up in office. Not enough, but we're working on it. And now it's a matter of having cases built up like we have throughout the Bank. Being out of business for four years has shut down our pipeline. And while it takes ten years to build an oil pipeline, it takes three or four years to build an export credit pipeline and beating the long-term business. So we're in the process of doing that, but we do have a program. We'd be glad in one of these sessions to bring Adam Frost to this mic. You can have it right now if you'd like it to tell you what we do for China. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think this is another area where all of government fails. We just passed a huge appropriation with CHIPS, which was really geared towards making sure that our manufacturing and our essential manufacturing was not beholden to an industry that was in China. We got a rare mineral issue that we got to be looking at. What I would say is that, yes, being competitive on export financing agencies and making sure that our manufacturers who are producing quality goods can be competitive against the state in China is absolutely in our lane. But when you look at -- your questions seem broader than that. To me, that's a question for our colleagues in other agencies on how can we collaborate more effectively to be more competitive against a future. I also serve on the board of directors or a board of trustees for the German Marshall Fund. They initiated a China initiative over 15 years ago, taking a look at what NATO countries were going to do to have that dialogue about China. Here's the fact. Germany says don't make us pick because any manufacturing-based company looks at a country that has over a billion people and says, I can't ignore the market. So I think this is complicated. I think it goes beyond export, credit agencies, and it really again comes to the all of government dialogue that we need to have as we think about the role that the EXIM Bank plays in advancing America's economic interest. Yes, Jude. CHAIR KEARNEY: Thanks, Senator. Jim, we really applaud this whole concept of competitiveness, particularly with regards to Africa. A lot of people don't know that before the U.S. government started to focus on being more competitive against China and others and Africa, a lot of the agencies weren't paying a lot of attention to Africa. So the competitiveness brought them in there. I want to flip the coin and say that if for whatever reason China is no longer a force in Africa, it's important that we not lose focus on the intrinsic value of trading with Africa. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Other than that value of simply beating China, yes. There's value in trade without competition with our major economic competitor. Other questions? Anyone online? MEMBER ZEWDE: I want to add something. Our response is from what I'm hearing is all insulated only to protect America's interests, which is good, and that's very important. However, the China Silk Initiative is not to protect their own business only. They want to reach out to the world, Africa, Asia and now Europe. My question was what do we have to address that kind of implicit, what we call influence, throughout the world. Too much the Chinese silk initiative. MR. CRUSE: I didn't understand the question. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Jim, the question is China does go beyond simply exports and takes a look at -- okay, I'm going to paraphrase. Basically colonization, economic colonization, of very many countries. What do we have that responds to that but stays in the lane of our values? MEMBER MARKELL: Madam Chair, if I may just add. That is what we're struggling through right now with the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum. What are going to be those outcomes, how are we talking about good values, just transition, climate, all those things. That's a really, really important discussion because it's not explicitly at all going to be about trade promotion. It's about that bigger value set and really forming relationships around particular subjects. But it's difficult because we're not going to throw money around the way China has, I don't think. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Jim, we want you to solve the China problem. Can you do that here really quickly? (Laughter.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think it is. It would be valuable. And I guess, Chair, if -- I'm not somebody who always likes to read things on a PDF on a computer. If you could put together the work that was done last time in hard copy and make sure that every advisory board member has a copy of the subcommittee reports, the competitiveness report. Some of us served last year, a lot of us didn't. And so let's put together that. I think after you get a chance to take a look, especially of the China stuff. Man, that was quality work. I think you'll get a sense that, yes, we're talking about broader issues but trying to figure out how you find the lane for the EXIM Bank. MEMBER ZEWDE: For example, America's primary interest is spreading democracy globally. That's a big concept that everybody else across the world accept. All of the countries want to achieve that. Equally, we have to have something that matches, in fact far exceeds, the Chinese global initiative. Trade, yes, is one thing, but the influence culturally, socially and politically of the Chinese initiative is very strong. We got to have something to match it. CHAIR HEITKAMP: What I would say in response to that is during a time when the Chinese export credit agencies were surging, we were retreating because we are in a different political situation. We do not have a centralized government that can direct and say, I'm going to make this decision. We have to have the executive branch reaching out to legislative branch. We lost our charter, and we lost momentum. We were already probably already behind, so we got to catch up. I think that's one of the holes. When I started this discussion with you all, I kept saying, look, don't think small. A lot of times the people who represent the administration more directly don't have the latitude that we do to basically be direct in our recommendations. We've got speakers coming, so I just want to do one thing, Chair. Nicole, I don't know if you're there, Nicole. If you want to hop on and introduce yourself. (Pause.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: I'd tell you. That poor woman. Been on again off again. I'm going to turn it back to the Chair for introductions and for our speakers. CHAIR LEWIS: Okay, yes. I think Kathy Roth was listening also. She's not with us today. She's the CEO and president of the Blue Star Families, Blue Star Strategies. The Assistant Secretary has joined us. Just as a comment as it relates to the competitiveness report, one of the things that we are looking at too is about how we're going to be revamping the exporter survey with the help of OMB. They actually have a unit that does nothing but surveys for the United States government, so we're going to bringing them and looking at some private sector assistance so that we could go even deeper, especially around the competitiveness side so we can make sure that EXIM has all of what we need in our evaluations of the work that we need to do. So Mr. Assistant Secretary is of the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the Department of State. We're really happy that he's able to join us. Assistant Secretary Toloui works with Undersecretary Fernandez who is the head of that bureau. We were just with him at the United Nations along with the secretary announcing a critical minerals partnership with over 20 nations. We're just delighted that the Assistant Secretary could be with us today. He's formally a professor of practice of international finance at Stanford University. He previously has also served as an assistant secretary of international finance in the Department of Treasury in his previous careers as he not only has worked with the G7 and the G20 and regional and bilateral economic issues. He was directed as the global co-head of emerging markets portfolio management at PIMCO where he was directing portfolio strategies and trading for over $100 billion in emerging markets investments. We're really glad to see him with us today in a continuation of the development and the closest of how we're working with the Department of State. With that, Mr. Secretary, the floor is yours. MR. TOLOUI: Chair Lewis, thank you for that kind introduction. Thanks for the opportunity to speak to the members of the advisory committee today. I don't need to tell you all about the vital role that EXIM plays in financing exports and strengthening supply chains. And its role is particularly important in response to the president's call for action to support supply chains as we've seen in recent years these vulnerabilities. And EXIM has responded with this initiative, Make More in America. From my position and the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at State, my focus and the focus of my team is working with other countries and using diplomacy to try to find ways to clear existing supply chain bottlenecks and lay the basis for resilient supply chains going forward. And we've seen not only with the COVID pandemic, but also with the war, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, just how vulnerable the global economy is to supply chain disruptions. Just ask the Europeans about energy security at the present moment. And so our objective is to try to work with other countries to shape the rules of the road, shape the policy environment, shape the financing environment using official tools like EXIM in ways that are going to build more resilient supply chains in the future. Let me give you a few examples of how we're doing that. In October of last year, the president hosted a Supply Chain Summit, which was followed the summer by a Supply Chain Ministerial co-hosted by Commerce Secretary Raimondo and Secretary of State Blinken. The purpose was to bring together 17 partners to agree upon a set of principles that would guide our joint efforts to strengthen supply chains. Those principles included increasing transparency to try to anticipate potential shortages, improve information sharing. Second, to work together, to diversify supply sources through investments in critical nodes in the supply chain infrastructure. Third, to strengthen the security of supply chains including the cybersecurity. And fourth, to make sure that we're putting in place sustainable supply chains with high standards in labor, environment and also debt sustainability in the cases of developing countries. And so we're working to do that not only through this group that was convened in July of this year, but also through various regional and bilateral engagements that the State Department has. So we have an initiative called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. One of the four pillars of that initiative is focused on strengthening supply chain resilience. We have the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council, which also has a working group dedicated to supply chains. And maybe to add a little bit of -- like a specific example of how diplomacy plays an important role in addressing these supply chain interruptions. About a year ago, the delta wave was affecting the world, including Southeast Asia, one of the critical countries that it was affecting was Malaysia, which plays a key role in the semiconductor supply chain. And the increasing delta cases of COVID was threatening to impair the supply of semiconductors coming out of Malaysia, which has knock-on effects, which would have had knock-on effects for U.S. industry including auto manufacturing in the United States. And so we worked with the Malaysian government through the leadership of our embassy to get them the best advice that we had from our health authorities on mitigation steps that they could take to keep those factories running while still protecting the employees in those factories and others that were involved in the supply chain leading into and coming out of those factories. And so that's one of sort of ad hoc ways in which our diplomatic efforts helped to address an incipient supply chain problem. Those are the kinds of things we're hoping to institutionalize through vehicles like the supply chain ministerial, the U.S.-Europe TTC and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. One of the unique aspects of our ministerial that we had in July was it wasn't just government to government. We actually, the day before, the government component convened stakeholders from subnational municipal governments as it is in the United States but also representatives from the municipal governments in other countries' governments, labor groups, environmental groups, and brought all of those different interests to the table because all of them had different components of this supply chain puzzle and we want them to contribute solutions to that. So this advisory committee is a model of the kind of collaboration we want with the private sector to try to address the supply chain problem. The other component, the incredibly important component that I want to mention that the U.S. government is working on, the State Department is working on in particular is the recently passed CHIPS and Science Act. The main thrust of which most of the funding in the CHIPS Act is aimed at trying to increase fabrication in the United States and maintain the U.S. leadership in research and development. It's lesser known that the State Department of this more than $50 billion-bill also has a $500 million component which is intended to support the international efforts that are needed to support this main effort of increasing fabrication in the United States. And that is very much directed to the upstream and downstream supply chains. We don't want to set up a manufacturing system in the United States and then face a situation where we're either deprived of the inputs necessary for those manufacturing or the next stages following fabrication. The testing, assembly, and actual use in final products, but that is vulnerable to interruption. And so the State Department's component of this is through working with others in the United States government identify promising projects that helps strengthen the upstream and downstream components of the supply chain. And here EXIM, the Development Finance Corporation, USAID have a vital role to play in making that a reality. So with that, maybe I will stop with that overview. I'd welcome any questions or input that this advisory committee may have. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Any questions? Any comments? Any perspectives? (Pause.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Anyone? Jude? CHAIR KEARNEY: Thanks, Senator. Mr. Assistant Secretary, I really like the way that you started your comments by saying that EXIM Bank is in a perfect position with regard to supporting improved and enhance supply chain reliability. It is really important to all of us who are serving in this capacity with EXIM Bank to acknowledge that because of its charter, its platform and its resources, EXIM Bank really can play an outsized role in regards to all of the things that we're to talk with them about. That wasn't always the case. It probably could have always been the case, but it was never viewed that way necessarily by prior administrations. I think this administration and this Chair can really do a lot with regards to small business and China and Africa and all the things that we're here to talk about. So your comments, I think, are very helpful towards that as well. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Mr. Sharma? MEMBER V. SHARMA: Yes, one of the questions I was going to raise later. I enjoyed the overview by the Assistant Secretary. It's around the intersection of the CHIPS and Science Act as well as IRA, but in this discussion the CHIPS and Science Act with the Make More in America, the supply chain effort that EXIM is undertaking. And I think there has to be a deeper understanding of that intersection. That was one of my questions really on how there can be better integration with those efforts. MR. TOLOUI: Good. Well, thank you. Maybe I can just reply. Thank you for both of those comments. The first speaker I couldn't agree more about the really important role that EXIM has to play on the supply chain agenda, and you were alluding to some other issues even outside of the supply chain agenda in terms of our United States economic engagement with the rest of the world that EXIM has a really important role to play in. We have a fantastic relationship with EXIM as an institution but also with the Chair in terms of the two-way flow of ideas and perspectives. On the CHIPS Act, I think we've got -- the CHIPS Act is only a little more than a month old. I can tell you we're already off to a running start in terms of the exchange of ideas within the U.S. government on how to program, think about programming, the funds that are in the CHIPS Act and beginning that discussion about how the competencies of the various agencies including EXIM can be brought to bear on advancing the broader objectives of the CHIPS Act. So I think we got that. We don't have all the answers yet, but we got great connectivity in getting the same people in the same streams of communication in order to identify the good ideas. And sessions like this are very helpful because I'm not -- I don't assume that everyone knows about all of the activities that the State Department is doing or the international dimension of the CHIPS Act funding. So rather than take that for granted, I welcome opportunities like that to share it with all of you so we can hear reactions and get more ideas back. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Other input, other questions? MEMBER A. SHARMA: One question. During the pandemic, we found there were supply chain problems and critical supplies were not being received. What we learned also that in the self-sufficiency in certain things should be put forward, should be focused on more. I know the CHIPS Act is there. Is there the same focus for other things also that how do we maintain more self-sufficiency and depend less on imports for other industries also. As we look at all the supply chain problems that have been happening in the past few months and the past year, we were one company that have not faced those problems because we're sourcing everything in America. And the more we source locally, we don't face the same problems that other companies have been facing. So based on that, is there some way of expanding that to other supply shortages also so we make more in America? MR. TOLOUI: The short answer to that is yes. In the executive order that was promulgated last year shortly after the president came into office, it identified a number of key sectors including medical equipment and others where there was a desire in particular to make sure that we were resilient to supply chain interruptions. And a large part of that resilience is to make sure we add adequate production capacity in the United States. After that executive order, there were a number of sectoral strategies that were prepared in the interagency process and an effort to look at what are the tools that the U.S. government has in each of those areas. The CHIPS Act is obviously the largest. That is the largest set of tools where the most funding is going behind and where there's an explicit amount of funding that is dedicated to our international efforts. So the Department of Commerce has the lead on most of these various areas. We at the State Department see certain component of it. And in particular, the components related to working closely with partners and allies on some of the key inputs that might be needed for various production efforts in the United States. MEMBER A. SHARMA: Thank you. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Any other questions? DIRECTOR BACHUS: I've got one question. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. DIRECTOR BACHUS: You talked about inputs in the semiconductor's electrical circuits. You got silicon, and I think Ukraine and Russia supply a lot of that. Germanium, aluminum, what do you think? Are we going to have enough copper, things of that nature? Have you looked at that? MR. TOLOUI: So this is definitely an area of focus particularly in the experts in the Commerce Department and also the U.S. Geological Survey who are looking very closely at these issues of both the rare earths, the other minerals and the gases that are required in the production process for semiconductors. So I confess, I'm not an expert on this issue, but it's definitely a focus of the people who are thinking about what it takes to create a resilient supply chain. And in particular, a resilient supply chain that would be necessary in order to sustain manufacturing in the United States. Because we don't mine all of the key inputs, we need to make sure that access to the critical minerals is robust, resilient, not under the concentrated control of other countries. That's very much a part of the initiative. DIRECTOR BACHUS: We have Africa subcommittee, Sub-Saharan, and of course China. One success they've had is they've built a lot of mines and financed a lot of mines in Africa. I think they control over half the minerals coming out of the Congo. CHAIR HEITKAMP: There are a number of initiatives. The Aspen Institute is undergoing a major study on rare minerals. Hopefully, that will come out. If I could plug in for a friend of mine, a guy who writes for Reuters. His name is Ernie Scheyder. Ernie is going to publish a book this fall which talks about globally where the supplies are and where we are. So there's a lot of academic/think tank work happening in rare minerals and what that means for renewable energy. But we're going to move on. I'll turn it back over to the Chair Lewis for the introduction of our next guest. CHAIR LEWIS: Thank you so much, Assistant Secretary, really appreciate your being with us today. Thank you so much. MR. TOLOUI: Thank you. (Applause.) CHAIR LEWIS: We could not be more excited and delighted to have Jonathan Finer, who works directly under director of the National Security Council, Jake Sullivan, join us today. Jonathan is the deputy national security advisor and formerly a foreign and national correspondent at the Washington Post. Jonathan has had numerous White House roles, and recently in the last administration he also was assigned in the White House as the chief of staff for John Kerry at the National Security Council staff. So having someone who's appointed in this position who has also been a special advisor for the Middle East, North Africa and a foreign policy speech writer for the then-Vice President Joe Biden. We couldn't have anybody better to really be with us today. Jonathan, thank you for you and your colleagues coming. We really appreciate the relationship that we have with you and your team. With that, we're just excited to hear. Turn it to you for your comments. MR. FINER: Great. Thanks very much. It's great to be here with you and the entire advisory committee. I should say just at the outset how important the role is that EXIM plays not just in our economic policy or in our international economic policy, but in our national security across the board. One of the things that we have tried to do in this administration is to have a more integrated approach to making foreign policy a national security policy. Because there are issues, including the issues that are that core of EXIM's work to expand and extend American manufacturing and competitiveness and jobs, that are not squarely domestic or economic or foreign policy. They really are all of the above. And so it is very important that all of the different tools in our toolbox as a nation are put to use in a coordinated way to advance the priorities of the president and the priorities of each of these institutions and really commend for the work that you've done to do that. There's a few areas of EXIM's work that I wanted to flag because they are kind of so central to what we do at the National Security Council. The new Make More in America Initiative that the Bank has launched is one key example of the ways in which we are trying to invest here at home so that we'll compete from a position of strength abroad. You hear the president, other senior officials, talk about this concept of competition quite a lot. We have a national security strategy that will be published in the not so distant future. Probably in the coming weeks you will see American competitiveness and competition really at the core of that. And the National Security Council is proud to have played a role in establishing this Make More in America Initiative through the EO that the president promulgated. I'm looking forward to this program, financing manufacturing investments in the near future and hearing how you view this as a potential force multiplier to the other incentive programs that we have like CHIPS or especially now the IRA to expand production capabilities in the U.S. for critical and clean energy technology. There's another benefit here, obviously. Creating good paying jobs and supporting and growing U.S. manufacturing has an ancillary benefit for national security. And by promoting competitiveness in exports, the Bank also plays a role in developing more secure and resilient supply chains as I heard you were just talking about it with my colleague, Ramin. We know that secure and resilient supply chains are critical for our national security. We had spent probably more time on this issue in this administration than in the decades that the National Security Council has existed before this on an issue that really was not at the core of national security work the last time I was in government, and now it's very much front and center. And just take CHIPS as one example. Right now, the U.S. just does not have the capabilities to produce advanced semiconductors. Everybody, I think, knows that. That only resides in Taiwan and maybe to a very minor extent in South Korea. And it's just not tenable that the United States does not have this capacity to build these chips here at home. We will need advanced chips for our national defense, for our competitiveness of key industries and industries of the future. And the Make More in America Program can help spur the creation of this ecosystem which will support the CHIPS investments that we're making. An important component of achieving all of these priorities is also deepening our economic ties with our allies and partners. Here is where I think we are trying to take another sort of novel and innovative approach. A decade ago, two decades ago, allies and partners' work on international and economic issues was all about free trade agreements. That has become a much more complicated proposition here in Washington and around the country. And we are now working to advance an affirmative economic agenda that benefits us here at home, that creates jobs and benefits American workers, and it makes us more competitive through creative approaches like the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for the Indo-Pacific region obviously and the America's partnership here in our own hemisphere. As well as more bespoke smaller but critically important for our national programs like the 21st Century Trade and Investment Initiative with Taiwan. And then more broadly and globally through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment, PGII, which you hear the president talk about quite a lot. We are proud of these concepts. We think they're innovative. We think they're creative. We have persuaded and in many ways generated a lot of enthusiasm among key partners and allies around the world for them. And it is now on all of us, including you here at EXIM, and I say this in part to kind of implore you to continue to work with us to make this real. It is incumbent on all of us to be able to demonstrate that these are not just concepts that exist on paper but that will make a meaningful difference in the American people's lives and people's lives around the world to prove that these things can work. EXIM financing is going to be an important complement of all these initiatives, particularly your efforts to help our exporters compete against countries that finance their exports at greater scales. And here quite clearly, I'm talking first and foremost about China. The United States is not going to be able compete dollar for dollar with China on these sorts of investments. We make the case that we have a different value proposition. We start that conversation usually by talking about the high standards that we bring to the deals that we finance, but we also are not just going to be able to compete standards against dollars. We're going to have to put real dollars to work here. Some of the legislation that's been passed in the last couple of months is going to arm us, all of us including your team here, to be able to do that and to be able to really finally compete with China and other countries that are going around the world doing these things. Just a minute on PGII, which I think deserves a pause. This is something that is at the core of the president's priorities, at the core of the president's agenda. We are trying to put real dollars behind it. And on that as well as on the America's partnership, as well as on IPEF, for EXIM, for DFC, which is obviously another one of these kind of core tools that the United States has in our toolbox. I know you guys work very closely with them on a number of these initiatives. It is going to be extremely important that we adjust the way we do business to make sure that it is operating at what my colleagues in the pentagon call the speed of relevance. The number one complaint we get from private sector partners who want to work with these U.S. government mechanisms to facilitate their exports or their deals that they're working on overseas is about speed. That doesn't mean compromising standards. It doesn't mean kind of lowering the threshold for the quality of the work, but it does mean demonstrating that we can be nimble. Maybe not as fast and loose as some of our partners around the world. We don't need to compete quite at that level, but better than we've done in the past. I really commend you for the work that is already underway to try to make improvements in that way. It is going to be one of the factors that determine how well we are able to compete and how real we can make these initiatives that the president has -- I said he's going to prioritize, and we're committed to working closely with you on all that. The other program I want to mention is EXIM's China and Transformational Exports Program, another kind of critical tool that helps our companies compete in the global marketplace against the PRC and other countries by directly countering export subsidies. Do you guy call it CTEP? We call it CTEP internally. It requires the bank to take on more risk and provide financing in new ways, but doing so is an important part of preserving our exporters' competitiveness and supporting U.S. manufacturing. The bottom line is that there are hundreds of export credit agencies around the world backing their own domestic industries. And we need to be able to compete with them. I'll close by saying I know I really just kind of highlighted two programs that EXIM has in Make More in America and in CTEP. Yes, they underscore the Banks' crucial role in investing here at home, making us more competitiveness abroad and ensuring that we're competing from a place of strength. But I also recognize that there's much more that you all bring to the table in terms of the value proposition. I just want to say again at the National Security Council where we spend a lot of time talking about war and peace and other more traditional foreign policy and national security issues, this has really moved to the center of our work because we think it is exactly these sorts of initiatives that have the greatest benefit for the broadest number of the American people in terms of an affirmative agenda. We're really committed to working with you to get them right and thank you again for giving me the opportunity to come here and talk to you a bit today. CHAIR LEWIS: No, thank you. I want to open it for questions. I want to start with you, Senator. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think one of the frustrations that we have, and this is not new, is what is the EXIM's place in broad-reaching overall policy goals and how do we guarantee that the EXIM is complying or at least responding as an effective partner in achieving those goals. If you could just bear with me, you think about supply chain disruption and what that meant for national security, what it meant for American kind of opportunity. So here's all the agencies that deal with supply chain, and I know this has been a huge initiative of the white house, not just the Department of Commerce. So here's the role EXIM plays in that goal of stabilizing supply chains so that we're meeting critical needs. Whether it's in pharmaceuticals or whether it's in chips, what does that look like? And I think the one thing that I would suggest as we look at all of government and policy to better understand how all of government should be working together. It needs to be articulated in a way so everybody understands their lane and their place. Does that make sense to you, Jon? MR. FINER: Yes, it does. And it really goes to really, I think, and I want to hear actually Joe's perspective on this because you're much deeper on it than I am and I think would have more insight. But it goes to the first point that I made, I think, which is when we're sitting around the table talking about how we approach and choose your kind of top line policy priority from China to kind of the migration challenge in our own hemisphere to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The key is to have at that table the different departments and agencies that control the key levers and the key tools. Again, a decade ago that would have been a much smaller group that it is today. It would have been the Pentagon, the State Department, the intelligence community, the Treasury Department and maybe that's it. Maybe USAID. Today when we talk particularly about issues that have anything on the economic agenda, it is imperative that we bring in a broader selection of departments and agencies that have -- and by the way, the domestic entities inside the White House that control policy that is related but focused here at home. CHAIR HEITKAMP: No, I get what you're saying that it's happening. My thing is if it's not written down, if it's not articulated, then there's not a level of accountability for reaching those goals. I applaud the administration for bringing the EXIM Bank in. I think it has Chair Lewis's job much more robust and difficult than the previous chairs have experienced, and we're proud about that participation. But as an advisory board that's looking at directional issues for the EXIM Bank to better understand those roles articulated, not just I went to a meeting and this is what we talked about, but here is what our expectations are at the Bank and the role of national security and the role of economic security, food security, supply chain security. All would be really valuable. MR. FINER: Yes. Got it, thank you. CHAIR LEWIS: So going to just comment quickly before turning it over to all of you. One of the things that I will tell you that on day one of my swearing in, I was at the White House meeting with the NEC and the NEC different team members. This administration, the Biden Administration, has totally embraced EXIM Bank. Something, as what Jonathan is saying, that I think has never happened before. I know Jim keeps reminding me these things have never happened, but they've happened because we are taking the direction straight from the top. The president has made it clear that he wants not MOUs just for MOUs sake. He wants real deliverables. He wants to deliver for the American people, but he also wants to deliver as he is making commitments with his G7 and G20 partners, his Indo-Pacific partners, the Quad partners, you name it. When he looks around the room, he has ensured that it's not only EXIM Bank, but as Jonathan said DFC, MCC, USTDA, Department of Commerce, SBA, all of us have a seat at the table. That has been, I think, helpful in the work that we're doing, and I'll give you one quick example. And so Jonathan, going to your point, Senator, about where's the accountability. The President made a commitment for COP27 for $11.4 billion. He gave each agency a number that he wanted them to hit. EXIM, I'm happy to say, last Thursday, we hit that number, which was over $150 million. The year before, we only did $11 million. How did we do that? Make the administration work in with the team at the NSC but also at the NEC, wanted to ensure that we were very accountable as agency heads. And so inside of EXIM, we began to put a very laser focus on what our number was supposed to be, and we hit that number. Then next year, that number moves from over $100 million, and we did about $150 million now. That number next year moves to $650 million. I will tell you that we are on target for meeting that number. Why are on target for meeting that number? Because John Kerry, Jake Sullivan, Brian Deese, they are holding agency heads, all of us, all of us, not just EXIM Bank, but all of us accountable for the commitments that this administration has made. When it comes to the programs that Jonathan has mentioned around PGII, which is the president's key initiative that has the pillars of whether it's digital connectivity, whether it's healthcare, whether it's gender and renewables, we are all being charged with the ability to make sure we're all being given not only just the access, but we're getting the tools. That's why so many of us are tracking the work that we're doing and being held accountable by the administration to ensure that we, when the president goes to meet with his counterparts and our allies and friends, that he has real deliverables on the table that he is doing. For EXIM Bank to be able to, as we've said too, we can't go to OMB and ask for more. We can't go to the White House and ask for more, but we have asked for more, and I will tell you EXIM's administrative budget was at $112. It has not moved in years. It now moved to $120, and then we were just on the phone with OMB, and we have moved that number. We're hoping that we're moving past $120 as well as putting in additional program budget for us to be able to do all of the work that the administration has charged us to do. Questions for Jon? Who wants to go next? Anybody on the phone, virtually and around the room. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Other comments, questions? MEMBER PINHO: I welcome very much this supply chain approach. I think that's important. I think that's also is up for discussion. As we're making partners with international, other partners, and to help the supply chain not only the Make America Great helps the inshoring, but to address the content issue. It would be interesting to -- if we're making partnership with the other players for the supply chain, why don't we also try to improve the content that EXIM Bank covers. I think that's a good opportunity to address that. As to China, being a longtime player -- an interesting fact, I mean, we're trying to export to China. And under the Export Working Capital Guarantee Program, particular to the country limitation schedule, that's a country that EXIM Bank requires LCs or nonpayment insurance to be eligible for that advance. Can we come up with something more that makes it easier for an exporter to export to China and also make that receivable financeable under EXIM Bank because otherwise for them to request and to do the LC is just an additional burden? I think those are interesting aspects to counter, to make it easier, to include an export to China under EXIM Bank program. That would be an approach. MR. FINER: Do you want to take the -- PARTICIPANT: This is way out of my lane. It's better for you to address. CHAIR LEWIS: Basically with the CTEP program, Congress allowed us to have different types of flexibilities for us to be able to make more financing available for our America companies to be able to compete against China. As Jonathan said, we can't match dollar for dollar. There's absolutely no way, but what we can do and what we're definitely seeing is that -- and who is walking in the door are CEOs and sovereign nations that definitely saying they really want to deal with American companies. They know our products, our services are far superior. So it's not just about standards, and it's not just about the rule of law. People are really drilling down and the fact that if they are out working on large infrastructure projects, working on projects around renewables, working on projects around digital connectivity, whatever it makes, whatever works. They want their products at the end of that contract to work. They want to be able to get the service, and they're finding that. I think that what we can do in the interest of time is to make sure we can provide a China briefing for this team. I know Admiral Roughead wanted to also join us, but he couldn't be here today. But he is definitely willing to also participate at the larger advisory committee to talk about the types of things that they're putting forward for us. We could not be more delighted that Congress did give us that authorization in the 2019 reauthorization, this particular mandate around China on transformational exports. And EXIM can't do it alone. That's why it's important as Jonathan was mentioning about the passage of the CHIPS Act. We see that EXIM's financing can be complementary to part of that. Also the Inflation Act. We've already been in contact, and they've been in contact with us at the State Department. There is millions of dollars that they have also been allocated. They have asked every one of our agencies on what we're doing to complement the work of the money that's been allocated through the State Department. So I think what we're trying to see, what we're seeing, is that there is much more of a whole of government approach to how we can be able to compete. We know that one agency cannot do it alone. But one of the things that's important for the signal that it sends throughout the United States government. I think the signal that it sends it to our exporters, but most importantly the signal that it sends around the world is that we are very much not only all of us being value aligned with the administration, but we are definitely working in concert and with our national security team, our diplomatic team and our economic team. And I think that speaks volumes. I'm sure, Alonzo, you can probably also speak to that in your previous life, too. CHAIR HEITKAMP: If I can just kind of calibrate this discussion because I think it goes to your point. Before the mid-21st century occurs, 70 percent of global population is going to be in Indo-China. Seventy percent of potential market is Indo-China. We've got to have fair access to that market, and we've got to figure out how we can be competitors, how we can be very mindful of the geopolitical threats. And I would throw India into this mix as well. You take a look at the alignment, the realignment of global actors today. And there is an argument that we should remove ourselves from that market and compete for what's left. We can't do that and be economically successful. And so the question is how do we work with our diplomatic partners, how do we work with our Pentagon partners, our national security partners to appreciate and understand, yes, we need to open up markets, but we also have a role to play in national security. And that's a tough balance. That's a really hard balance. And so we can't just automatically say, you're doing business with China; therefore, you're unpatriotic. That's just not realistic. To put those kind of demands on our trading partners, especially Western Europe, is not realistic either because you don't want to have Germany pick between opening up markets to China or keeping relationships solid with the United States of America. And so this is why I just really think this discussion is so important that we should be very proud of the direction EXIM is taking in collaboration. Staying in their lane, but in collaboration of meeting critical national security, diplomatic and economic security goals. Yes? CHAIR LEWIS: I think we have time for one last question. MEMBER FULGHAM: I just wanted to thank Jon for his comments. CHAIR LEWIS: There you go. MEMBER FULGHAM: I want to thank Jon for his comments, but also I would like for you to share with the group a little bit more about the DFC's role, TDA, USAID and MCC. This is a big lift. And I think one of the things that I would like to hear more strategically, especially on the continent of Africa with this minimal grab that's going on by folks in the Far East how we're trying to neutralize that by using the resources of EXIM Bank but also how we're bringing the rest of interagency to the fight. And then also how we are identifying countries that we should be reaching out from a small business perspective, looking at it from a climate water environment. And I agree with you, 60 to 65 percent of the population in a lot of countries are under the age of 21 years of age. So we're looking at a lot of unrest potentially in the future if we don't figure out how to stabilize those places. But I think this agency can play a leadership role as well, but we've got to focused and concentrated in bringing the interagencies into the fight. Whole of government. I hear that a lot when I was in the government previously. That was one of our big pushes, but we picked and choose when we want to do a whole of government approach. And this is an opportunity for us to really to do it and have some real successes going forward. So I'd like to hear a little bit more about how you see that. MR. FINER: Sure, absolutely. I talked a bit earlier about the advantage that the United States in terms of the largest, the most dynamic, the most creative, innovative private sector. That is one thing that we bring to the equation that other countries have but cannot compete in the way we can't compete dollar for dollar with the type of capital that the Chinese put up. But we also lack something that the Chinese and other countries which is ability to direct our private sector to do X, Y and Z. We don't have a command economy. We can't tell our corporations invest here, it's strategically advantageous for the United States, don't invest there, that's a country we're worried about. Unless we take really draconian course of steps like sanctions and export controls and pass legislation. That sort of thing. But generally, we cannot direct. What we can do is incentivize. That's a big part of what EXIM does, certainly what DFC does. DFC now has a lot of capital at its disposal, a lot more capital than the old institution, OPIC, it's a name I already almost forgot, that OPIC had to bring the bear. It has the ability to make equity investments, but these are still not investments on the scale of kind of what China can command. These are not tens and hundreds of billions dollars, going on trillion dollars if we talk about the entirety of Belt and Road. But what they can do is give the U.S. imprimatur to significant investments and give companies and give countries a bit more reassurance that the United States is going to help to make this investment successful and to prevent some of the political factors that can make a deal awry, mitigate those to an extent. That's of value. That's the ground on which we're going to have to compete, and DFC helps with that. All of the other agencies that you mentioned play a role in this, because for us given that we don't have the ability to direct $100 billion or $10 billion in capital, we have to take an all of the above approach. The value proposition we have to offer to countries sometimes is a mix of development assistance through AID, deal work through DFC. Some of the tools that EXIM can bring to bear that we discussed. The key is for this to work for us it has to be integrated and coordinated and directed at priorities that the administration sets. We've got to be pretty rigorous and pretty ruthless about pushing forward deals that advance those priorities and maybe emphasizing less other deals that are maybe appealing in a lot but that aren't at the kind of core of the strategic priorities that the administration has. That's why this process, this process -- this process is not a very interesting topic generally speaking, but why process is so important is so all of these tools that we have our disposal, which collectively we think make us not just able to compete but able to win, are pointed in the directions that the administration sets. CHAIR LEWIS: Any other burning questions before -- I think this has been a great conversation. Jon, we could not be -- your comments are right on point. Jon brings us the value for us to be able to say to this, especially when we're meeting with the sovereigns. Of course, they're not just meeting with EXIM Bank. Their first stop of course is always going to be White House and State Department. But one of the things that we're finding out is that they're understanding that now the economic arms of government, all of us, are right in that conversation and trying to use whatever tools that we have in order to get our American companies to win. The biggest issue that all of us are talking about too is not just about what is government doing but what is the private sector is doing. That's why you're going to continue to hear more about the public-private partnerships and the private sectors' initiatives that where they are coming together to help us leverage so that our American companies can win. And so really thank you, Jon, for being here. Really appreciate your time. I'll turn the meeting back over to the Senator. (Applause.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Thanks, Jon. Just we have to have a period of public comment, but I just want to kind of recap some of what -- we had seen some reports coming in right now, that's good. They don't want to mail them out. They want you to have to carry them home. (Laughter.) CHAIR LEWIS: We're lazy. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Yes. Let me kind of run through this list and then open it up. If I've missed something for the next board meeting, obviously if you take a look at this information, hopefully you guys will come back with it would be good if we did at the next meeting so we can advise the folks who support us here at the EXIM Bank on what that agenda would look like. The reports are being handed out that I referenced, whether they're the competitiveness reports -- yes. But also the subcommittee reports, hopefully we'll be able to get those to you. Admiral Roughead, who chairs your China subcommittee, if he could come in do maybe a half an hour presentation, you will find that discussion fascinating. But I would recommend to all of you that you actually read last year's committee report because it is very detailed and incredible work with incredible academic and practical rigor. I think it's one of the better things I've seen produced ever in an advisory capacity. Denny, to your point dashboard, find out where we are with statistics and data, what additional statistics and data that you and Brad have talked about that you would like to see and get back to the staff at the EXIM. And then I think to the Chair's discussion here, the list of priorities that she has been dialoguing with the White House on. What kinds of investments do they want to prioritize? Obviously, we know clean energy is one of those, but what exactly are your mandates from the administration and how can we provide strategic advice on how you can get there in those. Anything else that I didn't cover that we need to advise? Yes, Lisa? MEMBER MONSANTO: One thing that I think we need to focus on as well is looking at EXIM partnerships with the various agencies but also private sector agencies with the thought being of looking at access to finance. I think for a lot of us operating in this area for years, that's a big thing. A lot of these agencies are totally unknown to a lot of people. It's a black box as to how you go through the process. Yes, we have delegated authority and so forth, but just looking at access to finance in terms of the range of industries. A lot of times our not-so-small SMEs, yes, they have the idea of export is available, but they have no clue how to go about it. And I know that the different agencies have done work. OPIC, DFC has done partnerships with SBA over the years and so forth. But in this area, particularly with SMEs, there's a high degree of handholding. Business might have the idea, but then they need the support and the training to actually make it a reality. So I know work is being done, but I think it's something an advisory committee should be constantly looking at and evaluating. Are we using the best tools to reach our American companies? CHAIR HEITKAMP: Obviously adding that to the agenda next time to talk about collaborations. I think, okay, we have small community banks in North Dakota. They have somebody who builds wheelchair ramps, which incidentally they are accredited for the EXIM Bank, but their local banker isn't going to know how to access that if you don't have that information -- (Simultaneous speaking.) MEMBER MONSANTO: How do you find local partner in the country -- (Simultaneous speaking.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: Right, and how do you educate local partners? MEMBER MONSANTO: Yes. It's a huge step, and a lot of people think, hey, well, it's not open to me, and they walk away. So that really goes to building EXIM's pipeline of good, bankable transactions. We lose a lot if people really don't know how to access finance. CHAIR LEWIS: Lisa brings up a very important point. That's why we spend a great deal of time on EXIM 101. We have totally revamped that outreach. Today, we constantly are asking for co-hosting opportunities as all of us who have traveled around the country, the directors, the senior vice presidents, our regional teams and others, we are not only from an in-person but also from a virtual. So we would also like to ask each of you. I think the external team prepared in front of you the EXIM advisory ambassador packet that we're going to continuing to drill down more and more about each one of these areas. And we also want to make sure that our teams are available to answer any questions that you might have. But Lisa is absolutely right. Before I came here this afternoon and then when I stepped out, it was all about educating even our members of Congress. We have to continue to do EXIM 101. That's why we have started new partnerships with state and local governments. I just spent time with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Leagues of Cities, the National Governors Association, and the National Association of Counties. They have all asked us for a relationship, and we are coming from Miami having met with that group of individuals. We all know that governors, mayors and lieutenant governors and elected officials are the economic drivers in their communities. We have asked them, and they have pledged to work -- have us work with their economic teams much closer as well as their international teams. But EXIM cannot be everywhere. We're about less than 400 people. So what we have done this morning, we just came from also in Pittsburgh with the undersecretary for International Trade Administration from the Department of Commerce. She runs all of the foreign commercial service. She has over 3,300 foreign commercial service offices around the world. Also, we were with the Economic Bureau team with the assistant secretary. They manage over 1,300 economic officers in the embassies around the world. So we have, I believe, a renewed partnership with the Department of State, with the Department of Commerce. Ex officio on our board is Secretary Raimondo and Ambassador Tai from USTDA, who I have personally met with on numerous occasions, and we have just recently been with Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves. When I keep saying, and you were talking about this, Alonzo, about the whole of government. I believe we're putting teeth into the whole of government, and we're being as aggressive as we can. But nothing will counter what you all can do for us. You all are ambassadors. You have networks that we don't even know anything about, and we want to be in those networks. And we want to make ourselves available, myself, the directors, our SVPs and all our teams here to come out and participate with you in different meetings and opportunities to educate your networks but also we cannot diversify our pipelines if we don't have the projects. It's all about an application with us. It's not about policy. It's about the project. That's why we are telling folks, yes, we will be out doing that education about this little known agency, but we are really about the business of bringing it in house. The day of EXIM sitting back and thinking it's going to walk in the door, that's over and it's not going to happen. You got to go out and get it. Because I have said repeatedly externally and internally, it's not just China. We are now competing with other ECAs, the French, the Germans, the Canadians, our G7, some of our G20 partners. That's why we are reupping our relationships with other export credit agencies. We've been doing that since day one of my tenure. We just in New York and the UN signed with the Koreans, and it was all about what? It was really renewables, renewables, renewables. We're going to the continent this year very soon, and we have met already and we will continue to meet with the Africa ECAs as well as with members from the AU and their delegation. I think people are understanding that there's a new chapter that we're trying to write, and we're excited to be able to write that chapter with the White House, the State Department, the Commerce Department and our other government agencies including SBA and others. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Any other comments before I open this up for public comment? MEMBER GONZALEZ: Yes, can I make a comment? This is Mauricio Gonzalez. Very glad to hear that the message highlighted by Madam Chair. I'm just wondering if part of the message I think that might be missing could be related to medium or large exporters and how EXIM Bank is trying to recreate or is aiming to recreate also what has been a support to those entities. And of course we discussed SMEs and the support of SMEs, which is of course crucial and very much in line with the administration. I'm just wondering what is the message also for what has been the more traditional business, which has been a medium/large exporters, which are also key for the development of these energy transition sectors, exports that have been discussed. So I'm a little bit concerned about that message that I don't see EXIM Bank trying to reconnect with that sector, the medium or larger exporters. CHAIR LEWIS: I can tell you that we're spending an outsized amount of time on the small and medium-size, definitely on small business. We have to. We're going to diversify our portfolio and be the bank of everybody. We can't just talk to the same old group of people. We can't just being the same old deals. And we have to also focus on the president's priorities. So going to what Jonathan was saying, PGII is the president's signature initiative. It covers several sectors, gender, digital connectivity, healthcare and renewables. That is a focus. When we talk about what the priorities, that's his priorities. And we're lucky that digital connectivity is right in line with CTEP. We're lucky that renewables is right in line with that mandate from Congress about energy efficiency and energy storage, electrical vehicles and the like. When it comes to gender, that's why we have advanced a new committee advancing women in business that Nicole and Nancy are going to be the chair of. When we talk about climate, we are so excited to be able to have Dean Kyte and Rodney Ferguson to be able to individuals who are right there in the networks giving out the great advice at the highest level but understanding really what the role the financing plays in that. That's what we're so excited about when we see all of you and the energy that you can bring and the networks that you can bring to EXIM. We all know that big companies have no problems finding their way to EXIM Bank, but everybody else does. That's why we are very aggressive. We've already been out on the road. Our vice chair has been out on the road. Director Bachus has been on the road. Owen Herrnstadt has been on the road domestically as well as now getting ready to be internationally. That is what's critical for us, but it's not just about us. We are just not enough. That's why going and working with foreign commercial officers and the ambassadors in country is so critical, and we've been able to do that from all of the different continents. We're working very closely also with the vice president office in her Central America partnership. She also is leading a lot of different efforts for the administration, and we are trying to be right in there with what those kind of priorities are. So we're really tracking what the administration is doing. When we are being asked for the first time to sit with the secretary of state and his team, the undersecretary for the Economic Bureau, and to host and co-host with them the mineral security partnership. That is totally unheard of at EXIM Bank. But the thing that the secretary was so delighted that the 20 individuals country representatives who were his counterparts and the undersecretary's counterparts, I had already met with over half of the people, not them, but they're either EXIM Banks or they're banks of industry or the sovereign banks or the sovereign leadership. The Australians has been in here. They're very big members of the Quad. They're pushing. They're so far ahead of everybody on the work around critical minerals and preparing for the financing of critical minerals. We had just signed with the Koreans, the K-SURE export/import bank that morning. So in other words going to what he was saying, we're trying to put teeth into what we're saying. People can get very frustrated with us in the U.S. government if they think we just keep coming with initiative after initiative. But at the end of the day, where's the money? That's why bringing all these agencies together, Department of Energy, Department of Interior, the Department of Agriculture, we have met with them. I have met with the secretaries and their teams. And over these last six months, our teams are now trying to work closer together and more collaboratively than I think we've ever done in my previous experience with working with government agencies. So the small is exceptionally critical, but the medium-term, the medium is just as impactful for us, and we need to do it more, and we need to implore upon all of you to help us to get there. CHAIR HEITKAMP: With that, I'm going to go ahead and close out this part of the agenda. I need to open this up for public comment. If there's anyone in the room who would like to comment on the EXIM Bank activity other than members of our advisory committee and staff. Anyone online who would like to offer public comment? This is your opportunity. (Pause.) CHAIR HEITKAMP: With that being said, I don't think we have any public comment, which means we are now at the point of adjournment. I think, Madam Chair, you gave a great closing argument just a few moments ago, but could you talk about that a little bit. So we aren't going to let you go on a rant bragging about everything you're doing again, we just want you to invite everybody to the annual meeting. (Laughter.) CHAIR LEWIS: Don't you all will bring me down to reality. But I just can't say enough. Thank you for all of your time today and thank the co-chairs who were able to be with us virtually or in person. We will be moving very quickly to have their own advisory committee meetings that they will be guiding us through the agenda. I'm sure you'll be hearing later from the EXIM external team. You will definitely getting things in your email box, the reports that the Senator and others spoke about. We're excited to be bringing back in a hybrid fashion on December 13 what we call EXIM 2022, the premier U.S. trade event of the year, A Brighter Future Through Exporting. So we are asking folks to register now. Get your friends to register. Get your exporters to register. We're going to also be doing a number of things. It's a one-day event this year. We're going to also be doing a number of activities, advisory or council of -- be able to counsel exporters or potential exporters during the week. So really look forward to seeing all of you and just want to thank you for being here. CHAIR HEITKAMP: And Chair, in alignment with that event, if there's anything anyone on the advisory board if you want to call on those resources as ambassadors. I know that they'd be more than willing to participate in the agenda. CHAIR LEWIS: We're ready to adjourn and invite you for some a little nosh around. Refreshments, yes. MEMBER HECK: Madam Chair, when's our next meeting? CHAIR LEWIS: They will be getting that announcement out very shortly. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think one of the things I would recommend is that you get a schedule so that people can -- CHAIR LEWIS: Put it on their calendar, absolutely. CHAIR HEITKAMP: Because we're all busy. CHAIR LEWIS: Yes, we know you are all very busy, and we totally appreciate your time. Is Jonathan here? Did you want to take a set photo? (Pause.) CHAIR LEWIS: I think we should enjoy our refreshment. CHAIR HEITKAMP: I think so too. I think people have been sitting here long enough. CHAIR LEWIS: Yes, I think let's enjoy our refreshments. Thank you so much. (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter concluded at 4:40 p.m.)