EXIM Launches 2020 Annual Conference, Themed "Keeping America Strong: Empowering U.S. Businesses and Workers to Compete Globally"
WASHINGTON -Leaders of government, international business, and academia will address the 2020 Virtual Annual Conference of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) on September 9-11. The conference features an exhibit hall as well as two days of keynote remarks, plenary discussions, and breakout sessions on the critical role EXIM plays in supporting U.S. jobs and enhancing U.S. economic and national security.
"With a record-setting nearly 1,700 registrants, I am thrilled that this year's EXIM Annual Conference, which brings together leaders in government, business, and academia, is the largest conference in EXIM's history," said EXIM President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed. "U.S. exporters of all sizes and stakeholders from around the world will find something of interest to them in this event. The small business track is designed specifically to provide America's great small business exporters with the resources they need to compete in the global marketplace. We at EXIM have created an informative, comprehensive program that truly delivers on the conference theme of 'Keeping America Strong: Empowering U.S. Businesses and Workers to Compete Globally,' and I look forward to engaging in important discussions over these three days."
The conference began on Wednesday, September 9 with a virtual exhibit hall, unstructured, moderated discussions addressing transformational technology exports and national security, small business exports, exporting American healthcare excellence, U.S. competitiveness, agricultural goods, growing exports with EXIM support, financing space technologies, structured bankable ECA transactions in a transforming industry, reinsurance and risk mitigation, and U.S. government support for minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses.
EXIM President and Chairman Kimberly Reed will deliver welcome keynote remarks on Thursday, September 10, followed by keynote remarks by National Security Advisor Ambassador Robert O'Brien. Thursday morning also will feature a panel discussion on EXIM's new Program on China and Transformational Exports with U.S. House of Representatives China Task Force Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (TX-10) and Co-Chairs Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06), Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (OH-16), and moderated by EXIM Counselor to the Chairman and Senior Vice President for the Program on China and Transformational Exports David Trulio, as well as an overview of EXIM's COVID-19 Relief Measures by EXIM Chief Banking Officer Steve Renna. The morning session will conclude with an awards presentation of EXIM's Regional Export Promotion Program Member of the Year and concurrent breakout sessions "Small Business Track: Trade Finance Tools for Export Success," "Renewable Energy," and "5G/Wireless Technology."
The afternoon session on Thursday, September 10 will begin with keynote remarks from National Economic Council Director Lawrence A. Kudlow and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross. Following these keynote remarks, U.S. Department of State Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach will moderate a panel "The U.S. Trade Toolbox: Agencies Working Together to Support U.S. Companies" with Todd Abrajano, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Agency at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Adam Boehler, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Sean Cairncross, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and Bonnie Glick, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The afternoon session will conclude with concurrent breakout sessions "Small Business Track: Incoterms," "A Case Study of USG Whole-of-Government in Financing a Power Project in Senegal," and "EXIM Takes Action During COVID-19." The afternoon session also will include EXIM's Deal of the Year and Lender of the Year award presentations and will conclude with small group topic-specific discussions.
The conference will begin on Friday, September 11 with welcome remarks from Chairman Reed and a conversation with U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. Following this will be a panel discussion moderated by The Wall Street Journal Energy Policy Reporter Tim Puko titled "Exporting American Energy: A Conversation with Energy Industry CEOs." Panel participants include Meg Gentile, President and CEO of Tellurian, John Hopkins, Chairman and CEO of NuScale Power, and Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar. The morning session also will feature EXIM's Broker of the Year and New Broker of the Year awards presentation, and conclude with concurrent breakout sessions "Small Business Track: Supply Chain Finance Guarantee Program," "Ask the Experts: ECA Activity Around the World," and "The Multiplier Effect: Supporting Large Deals Through Service Exports."
Friday's afternoon session will begin with concurrent breakout sessions "Small Business Track: Where in the World are the Deals," "Streamlining the Medium-Term Application Process: Engineering and Environmental Considerations," and "EXIM Anti-Fraud Strategy." Following the breakout sessions, EXIM Board Member Judith Pryor and Professor Benedict O. Oramah, President of Afreximbank will discuss the relationship between EXIM and Afreximbank.
The afternoon session will include a panel, "Role of Official ECAs in 2020 - Indispensable or Irrelevant," featuring Export Credit Agency (ECA) leaders from around the world and building on the G12 Heads of ECA 2020 Meeting hosted by EXIM earlier in the week. Moderated by David Drysdale, Head of Export Credits Division at the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the panel includes Kimberly Reed, President and Chairman, Export-Import Bank of the United States; Mairead Lavery, President and CEO, Export Development Canada; Gabriel Cumenge, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Export Finance, French Ministry of Economy and Finance and Recovery; Christoph Herfarth, Head of Division Export Finance/Export Credit Guarantees, German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; M. Senthilnathan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Limited; Pierfrancesco Latini, CCEO, Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero; Atsuo Kuroda, Chairman and CEO, Nippon Export and Investment Insurance; Nikita Gusakov, CEO of Export Credit and Investment Insurance Russia; and Louis Taylor, Chief Executive and Accounting Officer, United Kingdom Export Finance. The conference will conclude on Friday with closing remarks from EXIM Chairman Reed.
For more information and to register visit EXIM's conference online.
ABOUT EXIM:
EXIM is an independent federal agency that promotes and supports American jobs by providing competitive and necessary export credit to support sales of U.S. goods and services to international buyers. A robust EXIM can level the global playing field for U.S. exporters when they compete against foreign companies that receive support from their governments. EXIM also contributes to U.S. economic growth by helping to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs in exporting businesses and their supply chains across the United States. In recent years, approximately 90 percent of the total number of the agency's authorizations has directly supported small businesses. Since 1992, EXIM has generated more than $9 billion for the U.S. Treasury for repayment of U.S. debt.
For more information about EXIM, please visit www.exim.gov.