Commerce Department Awards $1.9 Million to Stimulate Exports, Create Jobs

September 20, 2011

(ITA) Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank today announced $1.9 million in financial assistance to support projects that increase U.S. exports, create jobs and strengthen American global competitiveness. The funds will be awarded to five non-profit industry organizations and are expected to generate $1.96 billion in U.S. exports in the next three years, ranging from attracting foreign students and tourists to promoting clean truck technology and medical technology exports.

“Through the partnerships created by these awards, we’ll help more U.S. firms sell more of their goods and services to the 95 percent of the world’s consumers who live outside our borders,” Blank said. “The increase in exports that will result from these five new projects will create or support more than 10,000 U.S. jobs.”

The Commerce Department’s Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) awards include financial and technical assistance from the International Trade Administration (ITA) to support well-defined business plans aimed at increasing exports and U.S. competitiveness within certain industries. An MDCP award establishes a partnership between ITA and nonprofit industry groups to help strengthen global competitiveness and create jobs through exports. These cooperative agreements help to further President Obama’s National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S. exports by the end of 2014, supporting several million U.S. jobs.

The five recipients of the 2011 Market Development Cooperator Program awards are:

  • California ETEC, Irvine, Calif. – $388,425
  • CALSTART, Pasadena, Calif. – $300,271
  • NEMA – Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance, Rosslyn, Va. – $207,140
  • Specialty Equipment Market Association, Diamond Bar, Calif. – $500,000
  • U.S. Travel Association, Washington, D.C. – $491,681


This year’s MDCP awards will be matched by a $4.4 million investment by the non-profit industry recipients, who pledged to pay a minimum of two-thirds of the project costs and to sustain the projects after the initial MDCP award period ends.

Since MDCP's inception in 1993, the program has issued 112 awards. In an average year, MDCP projects generate $229 million in U.S. exports. For more information about the Market Development Cooperator Program, please visit trade.gov/mdcp.

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