Posts Tagged ‘corporate partners’

h1

Secretary Locke and U.S. Postmaster General Potter Sign Agreement to Boost Exports

July 12, 2010

(This post contains external links.  Please review our external linking policy.)

Adam Wilczewski is the Director of Strategic Partnerships in the International Trade Administration’s U.S. Commercial Service.  Stephanie Smedile is the Strategic Partnership Manager overseeing the U.S. Postal Service relationship.

The National Export Initiative is already driving broad government coordination – just take a look at www.trade.gov/nei to see what’s happening – but now the private sector is engaging in new ways, too.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Postmaster General John Potter shake hands after signing agreement.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Postmaster General John Potter shake hands after signing agreement to boost Exports in a ceremony on July 12, 2010.

Today Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and the U.S. Postal Service’s Postmaster General & CEO, John Potter, announced the launch of a new effort, the New Market Exporter Initiative (NMEI), to help boost U.S. exporters.  The NMEI will identify current U.S. Postal Service customers who are exporting their goods and services abroad, and working with ITA, help them expand their reach to additional international markets.  This initiative builds on an already successful relationship between the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Commercial Service’s Strategic Partnership Program.

With less than one percent of America’s 30 million companies exporting, and of those companies exporting, only 58 percent selling to one international market, we know there is potential for American companies to expand export sales.  The NMEI’s goal is to educate U.S. exporters, particularly small and medium-sized companies, about the benefits of expanding their exports to additional markets.  In addition, we want to inform them of the public and private sector resources to assist them.  To reach our goal, we are engaging partners like the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, and UPS to provide assistance to targeted exporting customers.

The buzz is already starting – take a look at Bloomberg’s Businessweek or PR Newswire to learn more about today’s event.

Posted in Strategic Partners | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Secretary Locke and U.S. Postmaster General Potter Sign Agreement to Boost Exports

h1

Strategic Partnerships and the National Export Initiative

February 22, 2010

(This post contains external links.  Please review our external linking policy.)

Adam Wilczewski is the Director of Strategic Partnerships in the International Trade Administration’s U.S. Commercial Service.

Friday afternoon I got a heads-up from one of our Strategic Partnership managers, Bob McEntire, about a news report on an Atlanta television station about Secretary Locke’s visit to the UPS operations center in Doraville, Georgia.  In addition to a synopsis of the visit, the report embodies the Administration’s push to promote its National Export Initiative and the benefits of the work we can do with our public-private partners.  It’s good to see the private sector working progressively with the Department of Commerce to help increase exports and to create more jobs.

Posted in Success Stories | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Strategic Partnerships and the National Export Initiative

h1

Globalization in the Midst of Recession-Prominent Business and Government Officials Headline Utah’s World Trade Week Conference

June 4, 2009

(This post was written on May 20, 2009. This post contains external links.  Please review our external linking policy.)

Dave Fiscus is the Director of the U.S. Foreign & Commercial Service‘s Utah Export Assistance Center, where he helps Utah companies compete and succeed in the international marketplace. He’s been with the International Trade Administration for ten years.

Greetings from Salt Lake City, home of the 2002 Winter Olympics and one of the fastest growing export markets in the country! I’m here at Zions Bank’s 8th Annual International Trade and Business Conference. Zions Bank, a corporate partner of the U.S. Foreign & Commercial Service (CS), has assembled a great cast of speakers to address this year’s topic, “Globalization in the Midst of Recession.” Zions Bank’s President and CEO, Scott Anderson, just provided opening remarks, in which the Zions Bank-CS partnership featured prominently (a great highlight for the CS and for the corporate partnership program!).

Over 800 members of Utah’s business community turned out for this half day event of presentations from officials representing all sectors of the economy from government to manufacturing to academia.

Rick Wade, Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff for the Department of Commerce just concluded his kick-off remarks. They were spot on with the theme of the conference and very well received by attendees. He pointed out that Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said in his confirmation hearing that he is committed to “work every day to make the Commerce Department an engine for improving our competitiveness, encouraging innovation, and creating jobs.” Furthermore, he stated that partnerships are a critical component of this goal, and the Secretary and our team intend to strengthen our relationships with business, other federal agencies, and state and local organizations to position the United States as a global leader in exports and innovation.

Rick Wade at the International Trade and Business Conference, Salt Lake City, May 20, 2009

Rick Wade, Deputy Chief of Staff, Department of Commerce, speaks at the Zions Bank’s 8th Annual International Trade and Business Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 20, 2009. (U.S. Department of Commerce photo)

The audience also just heard that last year, exports accounted for 13 percent of U.S. economic growth and supported millions of jobs in the United States. The U.S. exported an astounding $1.84 trillion worth of goods and services. To put this in historical context, exports accounted for nearly 10 percent of our gross domestic product five years earlier and 5 percent 40 years ago.

Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., who was recently appointed as the next U.S. Ambassador to China by President Obama, just stopped by to accept Utah’s “Internationalist of the Year Award”. The Governor provided remarks, underscoring the theme of the day. A fitting send-off for a leader who made Utah’s global competitiveness a hallmark of his tenure at the helm of the state.

Well, we’re going into a break and my colleague Jeff Hamilton and I need to head over to the Commercial Service Utah table in the exhibitor information section of the conference alongside Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee partners Ex-Im Bank and SBA as well as various local trade multipliers. Russell Roberts, Professor of Economics at George Mason University and Tom Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are slated to round out the day’s agenda.

Best from the American West!

Posted in Trade Policy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Globalization in the Midst of Recession-Prominent Business and Government Officials Headline Utah’s World Trade Week Conference