COMMERCE DEPARTMENT AWARDS $180,000 TO HELP U.S. PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES INDUSTRY ACCESS INDIAN MARKET
Award Initiates Partnership with Trade Association

The U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded $180,000 to NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies.

NPES, through its membership companies and exhibitors at its industry shows, represents the interests of more than 700 small and medium-sized American manufacturers of printing, publishing and converting technologies. This project will help these manufacturers gain access to the Indian and South Asian markets and realize a projected increase of $50 million in their export sales within five years.

"The Commerce Department is pleased to partner with NPES on this project," said Al Frink, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services. "This partnership reflects the Bush Administration's commitment to opening new markets, growing better American jobs and creating an environment for businesses to innovate, compete and prosper."

The funds awarded to NPES are made available through the Commerce Department's Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP), a public-private partnership developed to help small and medium-sized U.S. firms expand exports that support jobs. The MDCP is a competitive program of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration. The program builds partnerships by providing financial and technical assistance to non-profit organizations involved in improving competitiveness and developing foreign markets. NPES will match every federal dollar with two dollars of its own.

For more information about the Market Development Cooperator Program, please visit www.export.gov/mdcp.