That is partly the healthy consequence of liberal economic reforms in the 1980s and 1990s: the previous policies of state-led import-substitution tended to concentrate economic activity close to the centres of political power.

ECONOMIST: Productivity in Latin America

In the public sector, Bill Casey served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs and President of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

The clean-energy export initiative is also being sponsored by the Departments of Commerce, State, and Agriculture and a clutch of federal agencies like the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

FORBES: Clean Energy Exports? Think Energy Audits, Not Solar Panels

Abandoned by the former Harrah's Entertainment Inc. in 2008, Baha Mar last year found a new financial backer in the Export-Import Bank of China and a builder in China State Construction Engineering Corp.

WSJ: Resort Operator Kerzner Becomes Smaller

Over the past few years, state-owned financial institutions, mainly the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank, have extended tens of billions of dollars to Brazil, Russia and Kazakhstan, among other countries.

FORBES: Obama Policy Hands China Global Energy Supremacy

In that case, state prosecutors accused him of fraudulently persuading investors to pump money into a clothing import business that didn't actually exist.

NPR: Federal Prosecutors Unseal Hsu Complaint

Large, state-controlled lenders China Development Bank Corp. and Export-Import Bank of China are planning to pitch dim-sum bonds in London to investors, said people familiar with the matter.

WSJ: Dim Sum Bonds Get Western Flavor

It appeared that Iranian pistachios would finally enter the U.S. last March when Secretary of State Madeleine Albright lifted 13-year sanctions on them, together with import bans on Persian carpets and caviar.

FORBES: Nutty

California has also managed to import some of the grape's Old World confusion factor, since the state's wineries tend to label bottles "Pinot Grigio" or "Pinot Gris" based on whim rather than wine style.

FORBES: Wine & Spirts

Instead of developing those fields in the northern state of Coahuila, Pemex will instead focus on oil output, and the Mexican state power utility will import more gas.

FORBES: New EIA Report Says Shale Gas Boom Could Go Global