Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor Joins Ex-Im Bank's City/State Partners Program
BOISE, IDAHO: The Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor today signed a memorandum of understanding with the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) to become an Ex-Im Bank City/State Partner. Ex-Im Bank's 44 City/State Partners nationwide are state and local trade and business organizations that assist in educating and assisting small and medium-sized U.S. businesses about the export financing products available from Ex-Im Bank. The signing was held at the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor today in Boise.
Ex-Im Bank welcomes the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor as our newest City/State Partner. Ex-Im Bank's City/State Partners are our first line of outreach to small and medium-sized U.S. companies that can expand their sales and increase employment by exporting with the assistance of Ex-Im Bank's financing, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President (Acting) James H. Lambright, who signed the agreement on behalf of Ex-Im Bank. Also participating in the event was Ex-Im Bank's Deputy Head of Export Finance John Emens, who conducted a training session for local lenders on the use of Ex-Im Bank's programs.
This agreement can lift export activity of Idaho businesses to the next level, Idaho Commerce and Labor Director Roger B. Madsen said. The assistance offered through Ex-Im Bank solves the problems that can limit foreign sales for businesses already in the export market and give companies that are new to exporting second thoughts about selling their goods and services overseas.
Through the City/State Partners Program, Ex-Im Bank trains staff of state and local organizations to provide information and assistance to small and medium-sized companies on the availability and use of Ex-Im Bank's financing products, which include export credit insurance, working capital guarantees, and term financing for international buyers.
In the past five years, Ex-Im Bank has supported more than $54 million of Idaho exports to international markets.
Ex-Im Bank, the official export credit agency of the United States, is in its 71 st year of helping finance the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export credit insurance and direct loans. In fiscal year 2004, Ex-Im Bank supported $17.8 billion of U.S. exports to markets worldwide. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.