FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Today, December 14, 2001 at 3:30pm Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill will swear-in Jose A. Fourquet as the youngest U.S. Executive Director to the Inter-American Development Bank in U.S. history. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Jose A. Fourquet as the 12^th U.S. Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank on November 15^th, 2001. President George W. Bush nominated Mr. Fourquet on September 12^th, 2001. A native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Fourquet also serves as U.S. Executive Director of the Inter-American Investment Corporation and represents the U.S. on the Donors Committee of the Multilateral Investment Fund.

Previously, Mr. Fourquet was a Vice-President in the Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. In his last year at the firm, Mr. Fourquet was responsible for executing a number of initiatives focusing on recruiting, training, mentoring, and diversity in the workforce. Prior to that, Mr. Fourquet worked for four years as an institutional salesperson in the Emerging Debt Markets group of Goldman. It was in that role that Mr. Fourquet developed significant expertise in the emerging capital markets, especially those in Latin America. He also helped the firm expand its coverage of institutional clients across Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.

In addition to his banking responsibilities, Mr. Fourquet played a prominent role in firm-wide activities at Goldman Sachs. He represented the firm's Latino community in the Network Advisory Council and chaired Goldman's first-ever Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations. Mr. Fourquet was also a member of the firm's Diversity Steering Committee and Captain of the Georgetown recruiting teams.

Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Fourquet worked for six years as an Operations Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. In that capacity, Mr. Fourquet was posted abroad in Latin America and the Caribbean where he collected, evaluated and reported high-priority intelligence of interest to U.S. policy makers.

Mr. Fourquet graduated from Georgetown University with a BA in Government and a Special Certificate in Latin American Studies. He also obtained an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School where he was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society.

Mr. Fourquet and his wife Karen have two children and are expecting a third in early January 2002.