FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2022
Paducah, KY

Richard Grana, President of Impex (EMC) company, as a member of the US Delegation, presented on September 28, at the 11th US-EU Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Best Practices Workshop in Augsburg, Germany. Mr. Grana is a member of the Small, Minority, and Women-Led Business (ITAC 9) Industry Trade Advisory Committee, the National Association of District Export Councils Advisory Board, and Chairman of the KY and Southern Indiana District Export Council.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the Department of Commerce, and the Small Business Administration convened the conference with the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade and Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs.  The U.S.-EU SME Workshop is an ongoing opportunity for small businesses to engage directly and discuss relevant topics with government officials from the United States, the European Commission, and the EU Member States, as well as SMEs and associations from both sides of the Atlantic.

Topics for discussion included promoting SME growth through U.S.-EU trade opportunities; empowering SMEs, startups, and scale-ups, including an update on the work of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council to promote SME access to and use of digital tools; SME access to finance; and creating an environment for SMEs to succeed during the post-pandemic transition through economic development and workforce development strategies. 
 
U.S. -EU goods and services trade reached $1.1 trillion in 2021.  Nearly 95 percent of all U.S. exporters to the EU in 2020 (latest data available) were small- and medium-sized firms.

Contact: Cheryl Grana of Impex at 270-534-8344 or cgrana@me.com