Congressional Working Group Recognizes GTN Contribution to Small Business

Congressional Working Group Recognizes GTN Contribution to Small Business

The Congressionally organized Small and Medium Enterprise Trade Working Group that actively includes members of the House and Senate Small Business, Ways and Means, and Finance Committees along with the senior officers of each Federal trade related department, held its first formal meeting on March 12, 2002.

At that meeting, Rep. Donald Manzullo, who chairs the Working Group, related his personal experience with the U.S. Global Technology Network (GTN) that developed from a briefing in his Hill office and a subsequent meeting with GTN/Midwest Director Gregg R. Baker and a group of disadvantaged Tool and Die industry executives in Rockford, Illinois. Rep. Manzullo related how this key group of constituents was negatively affected by the move of major U.S. corporations overseas and how tool and die work was also being transferred without these local firms' participation. He cited the case of Don Metz of Metz Tool and Die Works, Inc., who as a leader in Rockford business has been most critical of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade negotiations but was open to looking for new ways to export.

Rep. Manzullo highlighted the fine work GTN/Midwest Director Gregg R. Baker did in briefing this key group, registering tool and die firms with GTN, and helping to arrange a meeting with Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) officials to come up with a strategy for entering the Mexican market with tool and die products. Meanwhile, GTN and OPIC staff have already made a joint visit to Metz Tool and Die in Rockford in order to complete the application materials for OPIC loan assistance.

To register with GTN, visit www.usgtn.net. GTN facilitates trade in all directions, works in all sectors, and is free of charge. Gregg Baker can be reached at gbaker@usgtn.net or 312-353-8059.





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