摘要: The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) plays a major role in leading the federal governments efforts to increase U.S. exports. ITAs U.S. Commercial Service, as the Department's key export promotion a... 展开 The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) plays a major role in leading the federal governments efforts to increase U.S. exports. ITAs U.S. Commercial Service, as the Department's key export promotion agency, works closely with the U.S. business community and federal, state, and local trade partners to promote export awareness and U.S. sales abroad. Currently, the Commercial Service, through its Office of Domestic Operations, operates 105 U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEACs), grouped geographically into 12 networks. The key objective of the USEACs is to enhance and expand federal export promotion and trade finance services through greater cooperation and coordination between federal and non-federal trade-related partners. The Office of Inspector General conducted the on-site portion of its inspection of the operations of Commercial Services Chicago USEAC Network from August 4 to 8, 2003, focusing on program operations as well as the financial and administrative practices of the Chicago USEAC Network. Commercial Service opened the Chicago Export Assistance Center in 1994, co-locating with the Export-Import Bank and Small Business Administration to better provide U.S. firms with information on all export promotion and export finance activities of the federal government. It was one of the four offices established under the one-stop shop pilot. Today, the Chicago USEAC Network covers the states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. 收起