U.S. Export Center In Atlanta to Expand Its Internet Services

      The Sunbelt U.S. Export Assistance Center in Atlanta is proposing to augment its Internet-based services next year under a new policy of the Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Sam Troy, the center’s director, told GlobalFax last week.

      During a telephone interview, Mr. Troy explained what he hoped would be the local impact of a major initiative to modernize the Commercial Service, announced by Assistant Secretary of Commerce Awilda Marquez, who is the director general of the service, in Atlanta Dec. 4.  The center’s requests are currently undergoing a budget review process, he added.

      With the mission of promoting the export of U.S. goods and services, the Commercial Service operates with public and private entities a network of 100 Export Assistance Centers in the U.S., including Atlanta, and more than 140 offices overseas.

      We’re in the process of implementing a huge initiative that is modernizing all of our products and services, Ms. Marquez said during a luncheon address of the First Annual Fulton County International Trade Conference held at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.

      Mr. Troy said that the Atlanta center had in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism taken the lead in adapting videoconferencing to promote international trade.

      As an example, he pointed to the program entitled Mexico and Canada: Doing Business with Friendly Neighbors, which was broadcast in September via satellite to more than 60 rural communities throughout the U.S.

      The program also was broadcast simultaneously on the Internet at http://www.globalspeak.com  It is at this Web site that the new interactive trade services are to be offered, he said.

      At the conference, Ms. Marquez said that the Commercial Service planned to add a quality assurance system for its products through polling customer feedback.  The Service also was considering establishing a money-back guarantee for all of its products, she said.

      For more information, the center may be reached by calling (404) 657-1900; fax, (404) 657-1970.