In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, Ohio must extend its economic reach, building relationships and seizing opportunities on a global scale.

The Global Markets Division is extending Ohio’s economic reach into the global marketplace. Ohio’s trade managers and network of international offices in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, India, and Japan promote the export of Ohio goods and services by identifying qualified prospective agents and distributors and by providing invaluable first-hand market research, which can pay dividends long into the future.

The Global Markets Division organizes trade missions to initiate and nuture relationships with potential international business partners. Participating in an Ohio business mission provides your company with an opportunity to meet high-level business and government executives face-to-face, greatly enhancing your potential for future business success.

At any given time, a trade manager may be meeting with a manufacturer in Mansfield, Ohio or a business in India, all with the goal of strengthening Ohio’s economy. A number of Ohio’s most important business partnerships were initiated by a phone call or meeting through the Global Markets Division.

The Global Markets Division administers the Ohio International Market Access Grant for Exporters (IMAGE) program, which provides funding on a reimbursement basis for small businesses wishing to participate in export-related activities such as trade shows and missions, export promotion services provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, international marketing and technical translation services, and export education programs.

With the fourth largest active rail line and airport access in the nation, Ohio’s private, public, and international transportation lines connect businesses with the needs of a changing global economy. Ohio is within one day’s drive of 60 percent of the U.S. and Canadian populations, making Ohio the ideal location for domestic and international business.

Ohio is the eighth-largest exporting state in the United States and exported $41.4 billion in 2010, a 21.5 percent increase from 2009. Ohio has consistently ranked as one of the top ten exporting states in the nation since 2001.

Every day, the Global Markets Division is searching for new trends and developing new relationships, whether at a trade fair in Hannover, Germany, a seminar in Monterrey, Mexico, or through discussions with the CEOs of multinational companies that benefit the export strategies for Ohio’s businesses.