National tour makes first stop in Minnesota, working with local businesses to grow exports, expand jobs
St. Paul, MN - The National Export Initiative today announced that it will conduct a national "New Markets, New Jobs" tour to help small businesses expand exports. The tour's first stop will be Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 17th. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills and Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg will join Governor Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak in working directly with local small and medium sized businesses at the day-long forum to talk about how they can expand their markets and create new jobs.
Governor Dayton is pleased to welcome the New Markets, New Jobs tour to Minnesota, and reiterated his Administration's focus on building a climate for economic growth and job creation.
"Delivering Minnesota products to expanded markets represents a tremendous opportunity for growth," said Governor Dayton. "Choosing Minnesota as the launch pad for a national focus on increasing exports underscores the entrepreneurial spirit of our state, and gives us yet another opportunity to expand local businesses and increase jobs. We will work directly with our local businesses, to help them leverage the public and private resources available to them to help expand into new markets. I look forward to working with Secretary Locke and the members of the National Export Initiative to create New Markets and New Jobs here in Minnesota.
More information on the tour and on the National Export Initiative are outlined below, in a news release from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The U.S. Department of Commerce is working in partnership with the Minnesota Trade Office on this initiative.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 27, 2011
News Media Contacts:
Kevin Griffis, (202) 482-4883, kgriffis@doc.gov
Members of President's Exports Council Announce New Markets, New Jobs Tour to Help Small Businesses Export
Outreach tour to make first stop February 17 in Minneapolis
WASHINGTON - On the one-year anniversary of the launch of President Obama's National Export Initiative, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills and Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg announced today the launch of a year-long, interagency, multi-city outreach campaign designed to help connect small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) with the resources they need to sell more of what they make overseas.
"For America to win the future, more small and medium sized businesses must export, because the more small businesses export, the more they produce; the more they produce, the more workers they need, and that means good-paying jobs here at home," Locke said.
The first of these events is scheduled for February 17 in Minneapolis, Minn. Locke is expected to be joined by Kirk, Mills, Hochberg, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, among others. The Minnesota stop will be followed by events in Los Angeles, Calif., Louisiana and Wilmington, Del. in the coming months. The conferences, which were called for in September's Report to the President on the National Export Initiative, are intended to reach more than 3,500 small and medium sized companies interested in exporting.
"We know that firms that export grow faster, add jobs more quickly, and pay better wages than those that don't. At the same time, 95 percent of the world's customers live beyond our borders. To ensure that our small businesses can compete for those customers, we are working to open more markets and maintain a level playing field," said Kirk.
U.S. SMEs that export are more productive and generate more revenue than SMEs that don't. A recent International Trade Commission survey found that exporting small and medium sized manufacturers in 2009 had more than twice the total revenue of their non-exporting counterparts. They experienced revenue growth of 37 percent between 2005 and 2009, while total revenue declined by 7 percent for non-exporting SME manufacturers over the same period.
Unfortunately, very few small and medium sized businesses export, and they still face significant hurdles in getting their products into new markets, including a lack of readily available information about exporting and market research; challenges in accessing export financing; and strong competition from foreign companies and governments.
"Ninety-five percent of the world's consumers live outside of the United States," Mills said. "In order for small businesses to continue to lead the American economy into prosperity, they need access to the global marketplace. The New Markets, New Jobs tour is another opportunity for SBA, through our nationwide network of resource partners, to help small businesses reach new markets, create jobs and maintain America's global competitiveness."
The conferences will feature:
Remarks from senior Obama Administration officials;
Trade resource panels on key export topics including the spectrum of federal resources that can help businesses begin exporting or expand their exports;
Materials and resources to guide companies in the process of selling their products to consumers all over the world; and
Lessons learned from area businesses that have succeeded in utilizing federal resources to expand into new markets and grow their businesses.
The NEI aims to double U.S. exports in five years to create several million new jobs. It enhances the U.S. government's trade promotion efforts, increases credit to businesses - especially small and medium sized businesses - looking to export, and continues to improve efforts to remove trade barriers for U.S. companies in foreign markets.
Exports were up 17 percent in the first 11 months of 2010 compared to same period in 2009. November 2010 exports of goods and services ($159.6 billion) were the highest since August 2008 ($162.9 billion) and with record merchandise exports to China ($9.5 billion).
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