The Metro Atlanta Chamber this year will launch a program aimed at helping local companies expand abroad, capping the course with a trip to China this fall.

The initiative is called Global Opportunities and will involve organizations throughout the city, Jorge Fernandez, the chamber’s vice president for global commerce, told GlobalAtlanta.

The chamber developed the program after consulting with the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the U.S. Commerce Department about how it could help metro Atlanta companies sell globally.

“They get a lot of customers who come to them and want to do global trade or business development internationally but they just don’t know how to do it,” said Mr. Fernandez.

The Global Opportunities program is designed to help companies “make the right contacts, get the right tools from the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the U.S. Department of Commerce,” said Mr. Fernandez.

The workshops will likely start in the spring with 10-15 participants and end in the fall with a chamber-sponsored trip to China for 10-12 days, said Ric Hubler, the chamber’s director of global business growth.

The chamber is still developing the program and will release more details later in the year, Mr. Hubler added.

The Global Opportunities program is one of many international initiatives the chamber plans for 2010. The trade missions started early in the new year, with Mr. Fernandez leaving this week on a trip to India.

“In 2009, we had two trips to India,” he said. “So we are starting the year with India to follow up on those leads and prospects.”

While China and India have been getting a lot of attention lately from Atlanta’s international business recruiters, Mr. Fernandez believes 2010 is the year to pay more attention to an old friend: Europe.

“We will focus a little more closely on Europe,” he said. “In the last two years, we’ve been focusing on China and India and we will continue to do that. We have had trips to Europe on a smaller scale. Most likely we will look at something on a larger scale, in the summer.”

Mr. Fernandez, former U.S. Air Force pilot and Delta Air Lines Inc. executive, emphasized that the chamber has not been ignoring Europe. It continues to work closely with the European consulates in Atlanta. For example, the chamber is hosting an event on sustainable transportation this month with the Swiss consulate.

Despite the worldwide economic slump, 2009 turned out to be a good year for the chamber’s international business recruitment efforts, said Mr. Fernandez. The chamber‘s goal for the year was 12 new international companies in Atlanta. It helped land 20, Mr. Fernandez said. The list includes Chinamex, a company that helps Chinese firms expand overseas, and Gustav Wiegard North America LP, a German manufacturer of components for the steel industry that is building a factory in Meriwether County.

“These are small- to medium-sized enterprises,” Mr. Fernandez said. “They are not large corporations. But as you know, 80 percent of the world commerce is done by SMEs.”

Atlanta’s great challenge in attracting international business remains creating greater awareness of the city globally, said Mr. Fernandez. 

“Obviously companies like Coca-Cola, CNN have certainly put Atlanta on the map,” he said. “The Olympics did a lot to put Atlanta on the map. But I still think we have a lot of work ahead to have people think of Atlanta as a business venue.”

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