R.I. exporters encouraged to look to Middle East

Why should businesses looking at expanding their overseas exports target the Middle East?
The answer, quite simply, is because despite continued misperceptions of economic and social unrest, the region is primed for welcoming U.S. business, according to those with knowledge on exporting there.
“Up until a couple years ago, [talk was] all about business and economics. Each [Middle East] country has its own opportunities and pitfalls,” said Seth Vogelman, director of trade for Atid, E.D.I., a Jerusalem-based company that provides trade consulting, market research and assessment for United States firms looking to take their products to Israel and the Middle East.
Vogelman, along with Atid, E.D.I. President Sherwin Pomerantz, spoke to about two dozen attendees at a Bryant University Chafee Center for International Business sponsored seminar, ‘Doing Business in the Middle East and Israel.’ The seminar was presented at the R.I. Economic Development Corporation in Providence last week. Vogelman and Pomerantz explained how the region continues to grow as a major export market for U.S.-manufactured products. Having a company such as EDI as a foreign representative is the best way to break into the market, they said.
“Nobody does a better job than a local,” Vogelman said.
The Chafee Center for International Business at Bryant University has sponsored and organized several trade missions to foreign countries for Rhode Island businesses with the R.I. Economic Development Corporation. They included one to Israel in November 2011 with 11 Rhode Island businesses and higher education institutions. The Chafee Center has helped run such trips for 25 years.
“We have heard from [all participants] that the [November] trip was extremely fruitful. To our knowledge, each and every [participant] is working on a trade transaction,” said Ray Fogarty, director of the center.
The Cooley Group, a Pawtucket-based developer and manufacturer of engineered, coated fabrics, is said to have secured the largest deal from the trip, Fogarty said. Neither the Chafee Center nor the R.I. Economic Development Corporation would disclose details – financial or otherwise – of the deal. The Cooley Group last week said a representative was not available to comment. David Goldsmith, co-founder and director at Aidance Skincare, which manufactures a line of proprietary skin-care and wound-care products, said his Woonsocket-based company has a clinical study in progress in Israel in coordination with the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There also is a clinical investigation pending approval with another hospital for the company’s human-wound-care ointment.
“In terms of revenue generated, there hasn’t been any yet,” Goldsmith said.” It’s a little bit different for us because we’re in a regulated industry.”
Rhode Island College President Nancy Carriuolo said the school attended the trade mission with the intention of developing international higher education partnerships.
In January 2013, RIC faculty visited Oranim and Beit Berl, and the Israeli faculty of those schools plan to visit RIC in fall 2013.
“Thought has been given to research projects and to various online courses,” Carriuolo said. “The research and curriculum work will definitely enhance the offerings of the collaborating institutions and may also generate research funds.”
Fogarty said that trade missions have secured a total of $11 million in sales for Rhode Island companies over the years. There has also been $5 million in sales from overseas trade shows and events organized through the center.
After the Israel Trade Mission, the center organized trips to Japan, Canada, Panama and the Dominican Republic. There is a trade mission to China and Hong Kong organized for next month and to Korea this September.
Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee announced last week that Rhode Island recorded a 4.1 percent growth from 2011 to 2012 in exports, totaling $2.4 billion.
The Chafee Center reports that Rhode Island exports grew 60 percent from 2009 to 2012.
Vogelman and Pomerantz said companies still should focus on Israel in targeting areas for export business.
Rhode Island totals $8 million in export sales there. The United States totals $14.3 billion.
“[It’s the] most Western economic system [and] way of doing business [in the area],” Vogelman said. “Because of the idea of familiarity, things go very well. The country is growing. It’s very well-insulated, there is no mortgage crisis.” •

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