(November 8, 2011) The National Export Initiative was at the forefront of the agenda when the National Export Council met November 2–5 in Las Vegas.
Representatives of the 58 district export councils (DECs) from across the country, with a membership of 1,500 met to continue their efforts to assist leading exporters to global success. The effort to educate and train small and medium-sized businesses in exporting is the focus. Advocacy, outreach and export support comprise the DEC goals.
National Export Initiative
The National Export Initiative is President Barack Obama's call for the doubling of exports over five years—by 2015. Only 1% of U.S. companies export, so there is major room for growth, especially as exports are a bright spot in the world's economy. For further information, please see the CalChamber page on the National Export Initiative.
CalChamber DEC Members
Susanne Stirling, vice president of international affairs for the California Chamber of Commerce, is a long-standing member of the DEC. Several CalChamber member company representatives also are DEC members:
- Roy Paulson of Paulson Manufacturing, a member of the CalChamber Council for International Trade (CIT), is chair of the Inland Empire DEC and is the new secretary and treasurer of the National DEC;
- Paul Oliva of Oliva Communications, a long-standing member of the CalChamber CIT, is chair of the Northern California DEC;
- Stephen Herrick of Bank of the West, also a CalChamber CIT member, attended, as well.
Members are appointed by the secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department.
30th Anniversary
This meeting also celebrated the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Commercial and Foreign Service of 1,430 individuals. Suresh Kumar, director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, attended the celebration and made several presentations regarding export activities.
On a separate note, continued funding of the U.S. Commercial and Foreign Service is of concern for the exporting community as Congress addresses spending priorities.
California STEP
A national project to assist with export growth was a topic of discussion. The California State Trade and Export Promotion (California STEP) project combines a network of state, federal, private and non-profit trade promotion organizations in California to facilitate export promotion activities, serving targeted industries, to drive exports for small businesses.
Survey on Impact of Foreign Non-Tariff Barriers
The DEC has an initiative with the U.S. Department of Commerce Market Access and Compliance Division and is now conducting a survey on barriers. If your company exports, please take a moment to complete this survey on the impact of foreign non-tariff barriers. These barriers have a negative impact on the competitiveness of U.S. exporters. Answers to this survey will be of great assistance to DECs in fulfilling the mission to contribute to America's international competitiveness.
To take the survey please click the link below or copy it into your web browser.
http://www.kwiksurveys.com?s=OKEELF_790773ca.
Export Control Reform
The DEC continues its focus to urge the U.S. administration to modernize the export control system. In August 2009, President Obama issued a comprehensive review on export control reform. The assessment found that the current U.S. export control system does not sufficiently reduce national security risk because its structure is overly complicated, contains too many redundancies, and tries to protect too much. See CalChamber site: Export Control Reform
Trade Promotion Authority
Among other export policy-related discussions and considerations, the National DEC adopted a resolution resolving that Congress should grant a renewal of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to the President of the United States for the purpose of negotiating trade agreements. This will ensure that trade agreements will be negotiated in the most efficacious and expedient matter.
The CalChamber has long-standing policy in support of TPA.
For further information, please see the CalChamber’s District Export Council page: www.calchamber.com/DEC.
Staff Contact: Susanne Stirling