MD INTERNATIONAL, OF MIAMI, FL, NAMED EX-IM BANK'S SMALL BUSINESS EXPORTER OF THE YEAR
MD International, of Miami, FL, received the 2003 Small Business Exporter of the Year award from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) at Ex-Im Bank's 2003 annual conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, April 22.
MD International is an exporter of medical equipment and supplies in developing countries. The company provides medical equipment through more than 600 distributors in 36 countries, and directly to over 100 hospitals and government institutions.
'We are happy to receive this award from Ex-Im Bank, said Pedro Infante, President of MD International. Small businesses throughout the country should work on developing a relationship with Ex-Im Bank. It's a bank designed to help not only the large corporations but the small businesses as well.
Small businesses are the key to economic growth in the United States. Small business entrepreneurs create two out of every three new jobs in the U.S., said Ex-Im Bank Chairman Philip Merrill. Businesses like MD International provide important medical equipment throughout Latin America. Ex-Im Bank is pleased to award MD International our 2003 Small Business Exporter of the Year Award.
MD International has partnered with Ex-Im Bank on a number of transactions over the past few years. Among the transactions are a $1.3 million guarantee to support the export of medical equipment to Venezuela, $475,000 worth of financing for imaging equipment to a small clinic in Veracruz, Mexico, and $7.4 million in financing for a maternity hospital belonging to the Social Security Administration in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.
Ex-Im Bank is the official export credit agency of the United States. Ex-Im Bank provides export credit insurance, loan guarantees, and direct loans to support U.S. exports, particularly in developing markets, around the world. In fiscal year 2002, Ex-Im Bank authorized financing to support nearly $13 billion of U.S. exports worldwide. More than 85 percent of the Bank's 2,500 transactions last year involved small businesses.
Ex-Im Bank's two-day annual conference on April 22 and 23 will include specialized workshops, speeches, and exhibits on export finance and trade to help U.S. exporters expand their sales to foreign markets.