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   Duquesne University’s Small Business Development Center has entered an agreement with the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s City-State Partners program to assist small exporters in western

Pennsylvania.    Duquesne’s SBDC is one of only three in the state to partner with the Ex-Im Bank. The SBDC offers no-cost, confidential consulting services and training workshops for small

businesses and those who are thinking of starting a business in the region to encourage exporting.    “Businesses, particularly small ones, traditionally have been unfamiliar with Ex-Im’s

wide array of lending products and opportunities,” said Mary McKinney, SBDC director, in a statement. “Ex-Im can be an active partner with businesses to help them secure export orders and

comfortably offer credit terms to the foreign buyer that are backed up by Ex-Im’s export credit insurance.”    In fiscal year 2011, Ex-Im Bank authorized more than $890 million to help over

100 Pennsylvania businesses export. This figure included more than $165 million in small-business authorizations. At the end of the fiscal year, about 18 percent of the bank’s Pennsylvania

authorizations supported small businesses.    Since January, Ex-Im Bank has expanded its outreach to small businesses through the Global Access for Small Business initiative. The initiative

is dedicated to increasing the number of small businesses exporting goods and services to maintain and create U.S. jobs.