Obama Approves U.S.-backed Satellite Procurement Loan to VNPT
By Jeffrey Hill | June 27, 2012
[Satellite TODAY 06-27-12] President Barack Obama has authorized the U.S. Export-Import Bank to extend a $125.9 million loan to Vietnam’s state-owned company Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) to buy a U.S.-made telecommunications and television satellite, the White House announced June 26.
U.S. Export-Import Bank officials said the approval was needed because Vietnam is a “Marxist-Leninist” economy. U.S. law requires a presidential determination that Export-Import Bank loans of more than $50 million to Marxist-Leninist economies are in the U.S. national interest.
Arianespace successfully launched the Vinasat-2 for VNPT in May. The proposed sale of VNPT’s new satellite must be presented to Congress for a 35-day review before the Export-Import Bank’s board can approve it.