Minutes of Europe Team monthly conference call:

Wednesday, November 19, 11:00 AM -- 12:15 PM Eastern time.

\- Welcome to all/ stating of names in attendance

1\) [Green Construction in Europe]{.underline} - Road Show to the U.S.
(3-4 cities): William Crawford, Deputy SCO, CS Paris

-   New Showcase of Sustainable Building Construction/ Green
    Construction

-   A standard and practical way to get US companies into this market

-   Focus on NTMs exporting to Europe

-   Looking for a Launch event for May 2009, 3-4 cities

    -   Possible cities:

        -   Pittsburgh, PA

        -   Washington DC

        -   Any other suggestions or recommendations?

-   Anticipations:

    -   High degree of interest due to the broad markets available in
        Europe and efficient energy regulations within the EU

    -   Require 6-12 months to get products tested and certified and
        \$50,000 in resources

2\) Europe Team 'Market of the Month Ireland' -- Stephen Anderson,
Commercial Counselor, CS Dublin: Regina Heise

-   Power point presentation on Ireland

-   Highlights:

    -   The furthermost country of Europe, an EU member and a part of
        the euro zone.

    -   No longer a growing market, but a high value added one

    -   Very exposed to economic changes

    -   Trade surplus is mostly due to high volume of American exports

    -   Hosts a firm US business community

        -   Companies such as Intel, HP, Dell, Microsoft, Google, Ebay,
            Facebook

    -   Industrial businesses usually locate their companies in either
        Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Sligo

    -   Gateway of tourists from Europe to the US

    -   Very close relations between Ireland and the US

    -   US brands never looked better than after the last election

-   Barbara Lapini asked which sectors would be the most important in
    the coming year

    -   Response from Stephen:

        -   Franchising

        -   Travel and Tourism which benefits from the New Visa Laws

        -   His office will stick to its strengths

-   Ireland will be featured during the "Small is Beautiful" webinar
    series

    -   Feb. 4th

3\) REACH Webinar (November 6):  Special Mention- Val Huston, Deputy
SCO, CSEU, Flavie Guerin, CS, CSEU, Leticia Arias, Dusan Marinkovic,
Rebecca Balogh

-   Thanks to the Team for making this such a huge success!

-   Appoximately 143 companies participated with close to 200
    participants total, including CS colleagues

-   Questions are still being received from companies

-   The answers to the majority of the questions will be sent out today
    or tomorrow

-   Dusan stated that the decision to put the webinars/ recordings of
    webinars on the website is still being decided

-   Currently, there is a link on the website that is password protected

    -   Can offer this to clients

    -   If you want the password, contact Deborah

-   Problems with hosting the webinar for great lengths of time due to
    bandwidth issues

    -   NAM is hosting the webinar on their system for the next 30 days

    -   Question was posed: Should webinars be hosted for more than 30
        days?

        -   REACH might be out of date by then

        -   Might be feasible to keep certain others

-   Suggestion was offered to sell copies of the recordings for half the
    price of attending the webinars

    -   Regina presented her success story on the sale of past
        recordings

    -   Deborah requested someone within Regina's team to get in touch
        with Dusan to discuss the mechanics of selling recordings

4\) [NATO Procurement Webinar]{.underline}: What You Need to Know About
Procurement Procedures and Opportunities, Declarations of Eligibility
for International Competitive Bidding, Secret Security Clearances and
More - [December 11, 9:30 AM EST]{.underline}: Barbara Lapini, Ira Bel,
Commercial Specialist CS Brussels                                      
                  <http://www.buyusa.gov/europe/team_events.html>

-   The nuts and bolts of selling to NATO

-   Targeting small to medium size companies with little experience
    concerning NATO

-   Will last about 90 min.

-   Content:

    -   Simple yet pragmatic

    -   Specifically looking at Joint Procurement and the various
        agencies in Member states

    -   Up to 5 speakers will present; possibly 2 NATO people, Pat
        Nugget, and a speaker from the private sector to give his/her
        personal experience with NATO

    -   Links to further information will be provided

    -   A period of Q and A to follow

-   4 registrations have already been received

-   Looking for publicity:

    -   An email has already been sent out to Teams

    -   Deborah Doherty asks that these emails be sent out to US
        companies

    -   CTS campaign has yet to go out

5\) Small is Beautiful Webinar Series: Thomas Happel, Commercial
Specialist CS Brussels & Rebecca Balogh, CO/Liaison to NAM

-   Purpose: Draw attention to small EU countries that may get
    overlooked

-   Focus on issues relevant to NTEs and NTMs

-   Link with NAM

-   Still working on presentations (Benelux, Belgium)

-   Seeking sponsorships:

    -   Currently talking with FedEx

    -   AMCAM

-   The promotional materials are still being drafted, will be sent to
    SEOs soon

-   Rebecca named as Project Coordinator to promote on E-menu and Europe
    Team website

-   Idea of inviting manufacturers along to speak will be discussed
    further at a later date

> **Small is Beautiful Webinar Series**\
> January 21, Small is Beautiful \-- Benelux\
> February 4, Small is Beautiful \-- Ireland\
> March 11, Small is Beautiful \-- The Alpine Region\
> April 1, Small is Beautiful \-- The Nordics\
> May 20, Small is Beautiful \-- Iberia\
> June 3, Small is Beautiful -- Greece

6\)  U.S. Serbia IT Business Summit (Chicago December 2-3, 2008) Dusan
Marinkovic <http://www.buyusa.gov/europe/team_events.html>

-   Have been very successful in the past

-   Targeted to big and small companies

-   Will feature 2 keynote speakers:

    -   Ms. Jasna Matic, Minister of Telecommunications and Information
        Technology of Serbia

    -   Mr. Stuart Jones, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European
        Affairs, US State Department

-   Success stories of doing IT business in Serbia will be presented by
    Cisco, Microsoft, Merit Solutions, and Ascendant Technology

-   Will offer a matchmaking component

    -   Have 20+ companies on the US side

7\)  CSEU hosted \'CE Mark - An Update\' Webinar: December 17, 2008 -
\"internal USDOC audience only\" (Deborah on behalf of Louis Santamaria
& Sylvia Mohr)

-   Save the date!

-   This is an internal training session

-   Part of the continuing series to train the trainers

-   For more information, see the CSEU's website

8\) Getting Paid by Your European Buyer -- Inga Fisher Williams

-   Inga received a link from CS Brazil containing this document

-   Contains payment terms and options

-   Could be a good platform for a draft for European companies

-   Could be useful to CS staff in their library

-   Would need to add a section on differences in various regions in
    Europe

-   Would need permission from CS Brazil to use their document, Inga
    will get in touch with them

-   Deborah confirmed that she forwarded the document to the SCO
    advisory committee to Europe Team and many officers liked the idea.
    However, would have to reflect the diverse markets of Europe

-   Inga accepted the offer of being the project leader

-   Document is linked to the end of these minutes

9\) ABC at IWA Outdoor Classics in Nuremberg, Germany, March 13-16th,
2009 -- Florian Tremmel & Isabella Cascarano: Sandra Necessary

-   Will be similar to last year in Nevada

-   Focus on NTEs and NTMs

-   CS has been given 215 square feet for free so want to offer US
    companies space for cheaper than normal

    -   Looking for:

        -   Small to medium size companies

        -   Companies who have not exhibited before, but will put on a
            waiting list those who have exhibited 2 or 3 years ago

        -   Maximum of 10 companies will be accepted

    -   Participants will have 16 square feet for their display

    -   Each firm must have a communications package which will cost
        \$900

    -   Must send a delegate to manage the display

    -   Products must be comprised of at least 51% US content

-   Recruitment will begin in a week or so

-   Looking to contact 1500 companies concerning participation at the
    upcoming shock show in Orlando in January

-   Trying to get the word out before then

-   Asking the Europe Team to promote to possible companies, will send
    flyers to team members

-   Suggestion was made to put the information an the website

10\) EuroTradeOnline (Stat-USA) December 3 & 4, STAT-USA hosting Web
seminars to introduce proponed new service
([http://www.usatradeonline.gov](http://www.usatradeonline.gov/))

-   Deborah received information about this on Nov. 14^th^

-   Is worth looking in to

-   If anyone needs the link, ask Deborah for it

Thanks to all for your participation and Happy Thanksgiving!!