Passage 3 A bond is issued by a guarantor, usually a bank or an insurance company, on behalf of exporter. It is a guarantee to the buyer that the exporter will fulfill his contractual obligations. If these obligations are not fulfilled, the guarantor undertakes to pay a sum of money to the buyer in compensation. This sum of money can be anything from 1% to 100% of the contract value. If the bond is issued by a bank, then the exporter is asked to sign a counter indemnity which authorizes the bank to debit his account with any money paid out under the bond. Bonds are usually serried in connection with overseas contracts, or with the supply of capital goods and services. When there is a buyer’s market, the provision of a bond can be made an essential condition for the granting of the contract. Middle Eastern countries commonly require bonds, but nowadays many other countries also require them. Most international aid agencies, such as the World Bank or the European Development Fund, and most government purchasing organizations in the developing world, now require bonds from sellers.

Passage 3Before a bank issues a bond for the exporter, the issuer and the applicant should have some kind of agreement in ______ form.