FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that businesses in Mesilla Park, N.M, are eligible to receive financing from the North American Development Bank's Community Adjustment and Investment Program (CAIP).

Mesilla Park will join sixty-four communities in twenty-six other states that have previously been designated by the CAIP as eligible to borrow directly from the NADBank or other federal loan guarantee programs operated by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Small Business Administration.

The Community Adjustment and Investment Program encourages and fosters economic opportunities within communities that have experienced job losses related to implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The CAIP works through the coordinated efforts of the U.S. Government and the NADBank providing financing to business communities with job displacement and few existing employment opportunities. To date, the program has financed more than $84 million for 138 private sector businesses, creating and preserving 3,000 jobs.

The NADBank is an international financial institution jointly capitalized and governed by the United States and Mexico to finance environmental projects along the U.S./Mexico border and to provide financial assistance for domestic community adjustment and investment in both countries. Approximately 10 percent of the U.S. contribution to the NADBank is earmarked for domestic needs which are addressed by the CAIP.