Join us in Bangkok, Thailand for the largest U.S. government-led trade mission and business development forum. Organized by the U.S. Commercial Service, Trade Winds will feature meetings with U.S. commercial diplomats from over 20 countries in Asia, exciting conference programming, and plenty of networking. The registration fee for the forum is $750 per attendee.

Qualified U.S. businesses may customize their experience with optional business-to-business matchmaking meetings with pre-screened buyers, agents, distributors, or joint-venture partners in Thailand (March 14) as well as Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore (March 9-10) and Indonesia and Malaysia (March 15-16). The registration fee for this option, which includes the business development forum and one mission stop, is $2,200 for the first company representative ($4,200 for companies with over 500 employees) and $500 for each additional company representative. The registration fee for each additional mission stop is $1,200.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service is accepting applications from U.S. exporters for a regional trade mission to Panama City, Panama from March 19-23, 2023.

“Panama is the economic, financial, and logistics and transport hub for Central America and this trade mission will provide us with an exciting opportunity to expand our growing presence across the region,” said FAS Administrator Daniel Whitley. “This is a perfect time to expand U.S. agricultural and food exports to Central America, where the rising incomes and a growing middle class in Central America are driving demand for consumer-oriented products and more.”

During the mission, FAS staff and regional experts will provide in-depth market briefings while in country. The agency will also arrange targeted business to business meetings for U.S. agribusinesses with potential customers from Panama, a bilateral Free Trade Agreement partner, as well as buyers from countries in the multilateral Central America and Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

Combined total agricultural exports to CAFTA-DR countries and Panama totaled a record $7.6 billion in 2021, up 50 percent since 2017. In 2022, agricultural product exports are on track to exceed that figure by nearly 25 percent.  Guatemala is the largest country by population in the region while the Dominican Republic is the largest economy and the United States’ largest agricultural product export market in the region.   Costa Rica and Panama are both important tourism destinations and are home to thousands of American and international expats, helping to drive demand for high-quality imported food products.  Moreover, Panama is a global top-five per capita consumer of U.S. food exports.

The region offers strong capabilities in logistics, distribution, processing, cold chain, and more. Strong opportunities exist for exporters across many industries, including but not limited to:

• consumer and processor-oriented food;
• poultry;
• pork;
• dairy products;
• beer and wine;
• snacks and packaged foods;
• health functional foods, such as gluten and sugar free, keto, and organics.

The 11th Pan African Global Trade and Investment Conference will collaborate with the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution to develop and present strategic and sustainable approaches for conflict resolution in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

The conference will promote and support the use of trade, investment, and economic development for conflict resolution programs that. . .

• Promote and facilitate the acquisition of conflict management and resolution skills through a collaborative effort of local and credible NGO’s

• Promote and provide strategies for the inclusion of marginalized groups in trade, investment, and local economic development

• Promote the establishment and operation of peace building strategies and institutions that establish and maintain successful conflict resolution training and behavior modification programs

• Establish regional transformation based upon modern methods of social and economic development

• Develop trade, investment and economic development networks which can immediately be relied on to increase peace and sustainability

• Establish of small business cooperatives that work towards the accomplishment of the regional master plans for trade, investment, and local economic development

Event Details
Register Today! Don’t miss out on this exciting program!

Gathering America’s export professionals to connect, collaborate, and solve problems together.

The NADEC Annual Export Conference, held annually at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center, brings together high-ranking U.S. and foreign government officials, exporters, service providers, and trade promotion agencies to discuss the latest news and updates on trade policy, export market opportunities, and challenges in focused sectors and regions. 

Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center (Networking reception from 5:30 – 7 pm)

Wednesday, May 10, 8 a.m. – Breakfast on the Hill with presentations by selected members of Congress, followed by individual meetings with Congressional Representatives

The 2023 NADEC Annual Export Conference will bring together distinguished speakers including business leaders, high-ranking U.S. and foreign government officials, exporters, trade service providers, and trade promotion agencies. This Conference provides space for industry peers to share expertise, proven export strategies, effective resources, and more during concurrent sessions.

Featured keynotes and panels will focus on Trade Policy Updates and Export Opportunities and Challenges. The NADEC Trade Policy Committee has identified timely issues that need to be addressed in order for U.S. exporters to have a fair playing field and competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

Planned topics include updates on:

• Global Supply Chain issues (disruption, resiliency, security, regulations),
• Africa (opening new opportunities),
• EU – Working with our Allies, Indo Pacific Framework,
• How the U.S. can counter the China trade threat,
• Opportunities for re-shoring and near-shoring, and
• Best practices for local DEC engagement at the grass-roots level, including Congressional trade advocacy.

DEC members can take the lead in building the trade DNA (of future exporters) and unlocking export potential. DEC members and U.S. exporters need to be well-versed on these issues and participate in the Hill breakfast and visits with Congressional representatives on Day 2 of the conference.

Early Bird Registration (until 4/1/23) – $249

Regular Registration (4/2/23-5/9/23) – $299

ONGOING CALL FOR TOPICS AND PANELISTS!

To ensure we are reflecting on timely topics of interest and the most current trends in the field, NADEC welcomes continued input from practitioners of ideas for panels, discussions and lectures related to exporting that would be beneficial to our conference attendees.

You may contact Anne Burkett, NADEC Vice Chair, at aburkett@naita.org with your input.