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Nashua, New Hampshire - Today, Representative Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02) and Export-Import Bank Board Member Patricia Loui hosted an exporter forum for local small businesses at Nashua Community College. More than 75 representatives from local companies attended the event, which focused on how American companies can gain a competitive edge when exporting their products overseas. Small business owners also received one-on-one trade counseling from Export-Import Bank experts.

My top priority in Congress is helping create jobs and opportunity for the middle class, and supporting exports is a key part of that goal, said Congresswoman Kuster. That's what this forum was all about. By connecting businesses with federal resources like the Ex-Im Bank, we can ensure that companies in New Hampshire and across the country have the tools they need to boost their exports and create good, middle class jobs.

With 95percent of the world's customers outside the United States, the value of exporting has become increasingly clear, said Director Loui. Increasing American exports is vital to our economic recovery and we will not reach our export potential without the participation of small business. That is why Ex-Im Bank is committed to growing the number of these companies that use our financing and, in doing so, create, save, and sustain American jobs.

Director Loui gave an overview of Export-Import Bank's Global Access for Small-Business initiative, which is aimed at increasing the number of small businesses across the United States that export goods and services produced by U.S. workers.

Ex-Im Bank authorized $18.4 million for New Hampshire businesses in Fiscal Year 2013 and 56 percent of those authorizations were for small businesses.

Small-business owners who missed the Global Access forum can still learn how Ex-Im Bank can enable them to generate new export sales by contacting the Bank's Regional Export Finance Center at (212) 809-2650 or by calling toll-free to 1-800-565-EXIM (3946). Ex-Im Bank offers information specifically designed to assist small-business exporters secure export financing on its website at http://www.exim.gov/smallbusiness/.

Ex-Im Bank's Global Access Program is supported by a wide variety of business, financial and government partners, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and the Bank's 60-plus city/state partners located throughout the U.S.

About Ex-Im Bank

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past five years (from Fiscal Year 2008), Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers nearly $1.6 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.

Ex-Im Bank approved nearly $35.8 billion in total authorizations in FY 2012. This total includes $7.2 billion for small business financing, of which $6.1 billion directly supported small-business export sales - an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $50 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 255,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.