On Thursday, February 17, Ambassador Kirk will join Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills, Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States Fred Hochberg, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan, Governor Mark Dayton and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to kickoff the National Export Initiative Small Business Tour. Ambassador Kirk will co-host a one-day conference, entitled “New Markets, New Jobs.” This forum is designed to help connect small- and medium-sized Minnesota businesses with the resources they need to sell more products around the world and create more jobs for American workers.
America’s small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, and the primary source of new American jobs. However, these businesses face many hurdles in getting their products to new global markets. The lack of readily available information about exporting and market research, accessing export financing and strong competition from foreign companies and governments are challenges for these businesses. The National Export Initiative Small Business Tour is designed to address these issues as part of President Obama’s goal of doubling exports by 2014 to support the creation of several million new jobs.
Sign up to attend the conference here, and keep checking back at USTR.gov for more information on the tour.
