The Illinois State Trade and Export Promotion (ISTEP) seminar was held earlier this month at Governors State University in University Park, according to a press release from GSU.

The event was hosted by the SBDC Illinois International Trade Center at GSU and the state of Illinois' Office of Trade and Investment. It provided ISTEP program application guidelines and eligibility requirements, as well as introduced other resources available to U.S. exporters.

More than 50 participants attended the event, including companies in manufacturing, design, engineering, and freight forwarding, as well as other new and existing export businesses. The event was sponsored by UPS, COSCO, Sharn Displays and Ability Engineering Technology.

Mary Ma, director of the International Trade Center at GSU, and others discussed the resources available to those interested in selling their products and services outside of the country. Speakers included Daniel Goff, the deputy director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development-Office of Trade and Investment; Monica Toporkiewicz, international trade specialist, U.S. Department of Commerce I Commercial Service; Michael F. Howard, managing director, Central Region, Export-Import Bank of the United States; John A. Nevell, regional manager, International Trade Programs, U.S. Small Business Administration; and Michelle Bonina, export development manager, the International Sales Group of Reed Exhibitions.

The director of the Small Business Development Center at GSU, Priscilla Cordero, welcomed participants. The dean of the College of Business and Public Administration, Ellen Foster Curtis, also was in attendance and expressed great appreciation for all of the speakers and attendees, the press release said.

The ISTEP program provides Illinois companies with financial and technical assistance through state government funding. The ISTEP program is designed to help small- and medium-size businesses geared toward new-to-export or new-to-market companies. The program funding includes support for group foreign trade missions, individual foreign market sales missions, gold key and export services provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, trade show participation, and product-compliance-certification services.