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“IRAQ CIVIL AVIATION RECONSTRUCTION" ORIENTATION VISIT - February 14 - 26, 2010
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“LITHUANIA: RURAL AREA INFORMATION NETWORK (RAIN)" ORIENTATION VISIT - November 14 - 21, 2009 - Completed
USTDA has invited a total of seven (7) delegates from Lithuania to visit the United States for eight (8) days in the November 2009. Delegates will include high-level decision-makers responsible for their rural area broadband project “RAIN”. The delegation will spend five business days, plus associated travel days, in the United States. The purpose of the event is to promote the use of U.S. ICT equipment in Lithuania’s growing market for rural broadband and other ICT services.
The delegation will undertake site visits to U.S. ICT and rural broadband network-related agencies, facilities and companies in the San Jose/Sunnyvale area of California and the Washington, D.C. area.
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“COLOMBIA PORTS AND INLAND WATERWAYS TECHNOLOGIES)" ORIENTATION VISIT - November 28 - December 12, 2009 - Completed
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has invited twelve (12) maritime transport sector delegates from Colombia to visit the United States on an Orientation Visit (OV) with respect to inland and coastal waterway modernization technologies and to meet with U.S. coastal and inland waterway port entities, equipment suppliers and service providers to learn about U.S. capabilities in such areas as navigation and logistics technologies, cargo screening and handling technologies, tugboats and barges, and vessel traffic equipment.
The delegation will be comprised of individuals from both public and private entities in the Colombian maritime transport sector, such as Cormagdalena (Colombia’s River Regulatory Authority), the Ministry of Transportation, and the Ministry of the Environment. Representatives from principal coastal and inland waterway ports will also be invited, including the Ports of Salgar, Buenaventura, Cartagena and other appropriate ports as they are identified, such as Bocas de Ceniza, Santa Marta and Barranquilla.
The OV itinerary will address a host of issues relating to inland and coastal waterway navigation, logistics, security, environmental and cargo handling technologies. In addition, the delegates will meet with financing entities to learn about possible multilateral, regional, bilateral, and commercial development bank financing options for future projects. The delegation will spend up to ten business days in the United States.
The Colombian delegation will visit the port cities of Houston, New Orleans and Baltimore to meet with the local Port Authorities in the Port of Houston, the Port of New Orleans, the Port of South Louisiana and the Port of Baltimore and their terminal operators and vendors. The delegation will also spend several days in Washington, D.C. meeting with federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the Maritime Administration (MARAD), with Maritime Trade Associations in the ports and waterways sector and with U.S. and international financial institutions including:
• The World Bank/International Finance Corporation
• Export-Import Bank of the United States
• Overseas Private Investment Corporation
• Inter-American Development Bank
The delegates will also meet with organizations and trade associations including:
• Organization of American States (OAS)
• American Association of Port Authorities AAPA
• American Waterways Association
• National Ports and Waterways Institute
• The American Waterways Operators Association
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“UKRAINE ICT" ORIENTATION VISIT - Completed
USTDA invited a total of seven (7) delegates from Ukraine and one (1) representative from the Commercial Service Office (USCS) in Kiev, to visit the United States for eleven (11) days in September 2009. Delegates included high level decision makers from the Ministry of Finance and other agencies associated with ICT and financial management services.
The delegation included senior officials from the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance and other finance and ICT-related agencies and who will be accompanied by a U.S. Commercial Service official from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev.
The delegation undertook site visits to U.S. ICT, Financial Management and e-Government-related agencies, facilities and companies in Washington, D.C.; Parkersburg, WV; San Jose, CA; and Seattle, WA areas.
The Ukainian Delegation
Mr. Ihor Ruban - Head of the State Committee for Informatization
Mr. Iaroslav Sydorovych - Head of IT Division, Ministry of Finance
Mr. Eduard Klepeks - Deputy Head of IT Division - Cabinet of Ministers
Mr. Pavlo Pashko - Deputy Head, State Customs Service
Mr. Valentyn Shulyak - Deputy Head Regional IT, State Customs Service
Mr. Andriy Laktionov - Head of Technical Assistance, State Customs Service
The objective of this OV was to introduce the delegation from Ukraine to U.S. federal and municipal authorities engaged in Information and Communications technologies for financial management systems and to showcase U.S. IT technologies to increase the functionality of Ukraine’s current systems and serve as a backbone for further expansion.
The Ukraine World Bank-financed Public Finance Modernization Project aims to strengthen public financial management in terms of operational efficiency and transparency. The project includes the following components:
• Strengthening institutional capacity and operational effectiveness
• Development of an integrated public financial management system
• Project Management
The visit agenda included topics and examples of ICT technologies based upon the specific interests and needs of the delegation.
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“CHINA: GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT TECHNICAL COOPERATION INITIATIVE” ORIENTATION VISIT - Completed
KEA planned, organized and managed this capacity building Orientation Visit (OV) in coordination with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC), with the goal of facilitating the Chinese delegation’s and thus the Chinese government’s understanding of and obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement of Government Procurement (GPA) (www.wto.org) . This program is expected to lead to a more transparent Chinese government procurement system that adheres to non-discriminatory procurement practices.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) invited a total of twelve (12) delegates from China and one (1) representative from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, to visit the United States for twelve (12) days in the July 2009. The delegates included high level policy officials involved in China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procedures (GPA). The Working Group included representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Finance (MOF), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and other stakeholders.
The visit took place in Washington, D.C., Harrisburg, Pa. and New York CIty, N.Y. Two Round Table Briefings took place in Washington, D.C. Site visits were arranged to both federal, state and municipal agencies and facilities and commercial supply chain and procurement firms in the sector who have specific interest or potential for business in China.
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The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) (www.ustda.gov) will invite twelve (12) senior Iraqi Civil Aviation officials to visit the United States February 14 thru 26 2010. The delegation will be led by the Iraqi Minister of Transportation and will include 11 senior officials, Director's General of Iraq's airports and the head of Iraqi Airways. A representative of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will accompany the delegation from Iraq.
The visit will last ten (10) days (including travel time) and will begin in the Washington, D.C. area. This phase will include meetings with senior officials in the:
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT),
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),
Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
U.S. Financial Institutions
and other U.S. Government Agencies and Civil Aviation Firms.
Site visits will include regional FAA Air Traffic Management (ATM) facilities and local international and domestic airports, . The delegation will travel to New Orleans, La. to meet with local aviation, rail and port officials (intermodal) and will then travel on to Oklahoma City, OK to meet with officials from the FAA Academy, the FAA Logistics Center and the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute.
The objective of the OV will be to support the Iraqi delegations efforts to develop significant relationships with U.S. organizations that would then lead to greater U.S. involvement in Iraq's civil aviation sector. Civil aviation is essential to economic growth, and to opening up Iraq, especially the safer provinces, to international commercial passenger and cargo traffic. USTDA anticipates that this OV will help advance Iraq's reconstruction under infrastructure growth, technology transfer, and productivity improvement.
A one-day Business Briefing for U.S. companies will be held on February 17th from 8:30am thru 4:00pm at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. Please go to the registration page on this website to register for this event.