§ 221 — Export trade development projects

* § 221. Export trade development projects. 1. The commissioner is\nhereby authorized to provide assistance to export trade development\nprojects designed to encourage and assist businesses, industrial firms\nor industry groups to engage in export trade and to coordinate other\nstate economic development programs with such projects.\n 2. The commissioner shall give preference to export trade development\nprojects which benefit those businesses which are resident in the state,\nindependently owned and operated, not dominant in their fields, employ\nfive hundred employees or less and which are located in a geographic\narea demonstrating a need for such services.\n 3. An export trade committee is hereby established to make\nrecommendations to the commissioner for his or her approval of proposed\nexport trade development projects. Members of the committee shall\ninclude, among others, the commissioner, who shall chair the committee,\na representative of the port authority of New York and New Jersey, and\nat least two representatives of the private sector experienced in export\ntrade selected by the commissioner, at least one of whom shall be from a\nsmall business.\n 4. The department shall actively seek to identify and disseminate\ninformation to entities which may be eligible to receive assistance\npursuant to this section and shall make awards for export trade\ndevelopment projects on a competitive basis.\n (a) Entities eligible to apply for funding for an export trade\ndevelopment project shall include public benefit corporations,\nnot-for-profit corporations, local development corporations, industrial\ndevelopment authorities, trade associations, educational institutions\nand other not-for-profit organizations which promote economic\ndevelopment.\n (b) Applicants shall be required to demonstrate their ability to\nprovide the services proposed; the potential for the initiation or\nexpansion of export trade from the area to be served; the availability\nor non-availability of export credit and export technical assistance\nfrom other sources in the area to be served; the methods to be used to\ncoordinate the delivery of state and local export promotion resources;\nthe possibility that the services to be funded would become\nself-sustaining; the potential to duplicate the project elsewhere in the\nstate; the participation of local and regional economic development\norganizations; and to provide a program budget, including matching\nfunds, in-kind and otherwise, to be provided by the applicant.\n (c) A project eligible to be an export trade development project may\ninclude, but not be limited to, any project to provide one or more of\nthe following services: export market analysis; foreign direct\ninvestment leads; export trade promotion; export trade education; export\ntrade finance technical assistance; or export trade finance.\n 5. No single grant for export trade development projects providing\ntechnical assistance shall exceed one hundred thousand dollars; no\nsingle grant for export trade development projects providing financial\nassistance shall exceed two hundred thousand dollars.\n * NB Amendments effective insofar as they pertain to the Port\nAuthority of New York and New Jersey upon passage of same as legislation\nby New Jersey\n