WASHINGTON – A popular guide to exporting published by the U.S. Small Business Administration has been translated into Spanish and is available on SBA’s Web site, and will be made available soon in all Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere.

SBA’s “Breaking into the Trade Game: A Small Business Guide to Exporting” was translated by Argentina’s Chamber of Exporters and will be disseminated as a joint effort between the Argentinean Chamber and the Small and Medium

Enterprise Congress of the Americas on International Trade.  SBA is part of a multinational steering committee that leads the SME Congress, a hemispheric partnership to promote and facilitate the small business participation in international trade (www.smecongress.net).

The Chamber will work with the SME Congress to identify public and private organizations throughout the Americas that can tailor the translation specifically to the institutions and regulatory environment of that particular nation.

“In our global economy, trade among nations has proven a leading factor in economic development and job growth. For small businesses, learning how to break into the international trade game is a must to make them more competitive,” said SBA Acting Administrator Sandy K. Baruah. “We are very pleased that this translation will make this invaluable tool available to thousands of businesses in our hemisphere, including the many Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs in the U.S., and we thank those who made it possible.”

The Spanish version of “Breaking into the Trade Game: A Small Business Guide to Exporting” is already available online at www.sba.gov/oit. The availability of the Spanish translation was officially announced at the America’s Competitiveness Forum 2008, in Atlanta, on Aug. 19 following a panel on Small and Medium Enterprise Trade Capacity Building.  The panel focused on best practices to prepare micro, small- and medium-sized businesses to effectively engage in international trade.

The SME Congress of the Americas on International Trade, which coordinated the panel at the Americas Competitiveness Forum, is a network, spearheaded by the SBA, that brings together representatives of small business support agencies throughout the Americas in a joint effort to share best practices, generate enthusiasm for, and strengthen the voice of small business in international trade in the Americas.

The First SME Congress of the Americas on International Trade was held in Reñaca, Chile, in 2004 and was attended by 75 representatives from 12 countries. The Second SME Congress convened in Mexico City in 2006 and gathered more than 150 representatives from 17 countries. A Third SME Congress is currently being planned for Spring 2009.