BUSINESS BRIEFS
Ex-Im Bank can help small firms
Advertiser Staff
Small-business exporters in Hawai'i will get help expanding their international sales and minimizing financial risks under a new partnership announced yesterday between the state and the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
The state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism joined Ex-Im Bank's City-State Partners Program, a national marketing initiative that brings export financing services to small- and medium-sized U.S. companies through cooperation with state and local governments, and private-sector organizations.
DBEDT said the program will allow it to walk local businesses through the process of applying for a wide range of Ex-Im Bank financing tools including working capital support, export credit insurance and loan guarantees for service companies that will enable them to better compete in growth markets abroad.
ENRON EX-CEO IN HOTTER WATER
HOUSTON — In the most dramatic moment of the government's 3-month trial of two Enron executives charged with fraud, a prosecutor yesterday accused former Enron CEO Ken Lay of witness tampering.
Prosecutor John Hueston launched into his cross-examination of Lay by saying Lay tried to contact two senior Goldman Sachs partners last month, just days after a key government witness testified about a sensitive meeting between Goldman and Enron in September 2001. Hueston called it an attempt by the defendant to "get your story straight."
CONOCOPHILLIPS PROFIT RISES 13%
DALLAS — ConocoPhillips, the nation's third-largest oil and gas producer, said yesterday that profit rose 13 percent to $3.29 billion as stronger exploration and production results yielded the best first-quarter earnings since Phillips Petroleum Co. and Conoco Inc. combined in 2002.
