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WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a former small business owner, will address New England businesses about expanding their sales in foreign markets and creating U.S. jobs. The presentation will be made at a half-day interactive seminar organized by six federal agencies Oct. 6 at the Seaport World Trade Center Boston.

Shaheen, who serves on the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, will be a featured speaker at Exports Live! Real Deals, Real Profits, an eight-city seminar series. The meetings will review strategies and partnerships used by local small and medium-size businesses that already have discovered how to increase profitability through exporting.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and enormous opportunities await them if they tap the export services provided by federal, state and local trade organizations to widen their reach in the global marketplace, said Shaheen. I look forward to talking with many local companies at this seminar about how to realize these opportunities and help our economy grow.

The seminars will feature presentations and Q & A sessions by successful small-business exporters that have benefitted from government export services and solutions. Representatives of the same government organizations also will be on the program and available later in the day to offer one-on-one sessions.

The Boston Seminar follows one in New York on Oct. 5, and will be followed by similar sessions in Miami (Oct. 26), Houston (Oct. 27), Chicago (Nov. 10), Los Angeles (Nov. 16), Seattle (Nov. 17), and Detroit (Dec. 11). Leading the meetings will be the heads of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade Representative.

Although 95 percent of the world's customers are located outside of the United States, the vast majority of American companies aren't currently accessing this global market because of perceived difficulties in successfully finding and financing foreign sales, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. We plan to show seminar participants how to overcome these difficulties.

Shaheen is the first woman in history to serve both as a governor and a U.S. senator. She served as governor of New Hampshire from 1997 to 2003 and was sworn-in as a member of the U.S. Senate in January 2009. In addition to the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, she also serves on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the Committee on Foreign Relations where she chairs the Subcommittee on European Affairs.

For more information and to register for the nearest Exports Live! seminar, visit www.export.gov/exports_live/ or call toll-free 1-(888) 966-2009. Please note that space is limited.