A Message From The Interim Director

Happy New Year and Happy 20 Years to us!

This year, we celebrate two decades of service as Miami-Dade County's office of International Trade Consortium, as well as the completion of 40 years of the County's Sister Cities Program.

We closed off 2021 with a total of 21 inbound missions from visiting delegations seeking business opportunities in Miami-Dade. In addition, we helped establish a new Sister Cities agreement between Miami-Dade County and Viareggio, as a result of the business development mission to Italy, led by Chairman Jose "Pepe Diaz, from October 7-14, 2021. The end-of-mission report will soon be available on our website.

In this issue of our newsletter you will find links to photos, past events, and information about upcoming events and job opportunities.

The ITC Team looks forward to continue working with our strategic trade partners to promote Miami-Dade County as the Global Gateway to international trade. For additional information, please contact us at global@miamidade.gov.

Best,

Maria Dreyfus-Ulvert, Interim Director

January 13 — The ITC Team met and hosted a Polish delegation, led by The Hon. Marek Magierowski, Ambassador of Poland to the U.S. At the request of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, D.C., we coordinated a meeting for the delegation with Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, and extended an invitation to ITC trade partners to provide presentations about Miami-Dade's role as a global trade hub.

During the meeting, Ambassador Magierowski expressed interest in opening a trade office in Miami. We look forward to working with the Polish embassy to increase commercial ties between Poland and Miami-Dade County and to help serve as a gateway into Latin America.

We look forward to hosting the Speaker of Senate (upper house of Polish Parliament), Prof. Tomasz Grodzki, from February 10-11, 2022.

Special thanks to our ITC board members and strategic trade partners: Jimmy Nares, Miami-Dade Aviation Department; Eric Olafson, PortMiami; Mario Sacasa, Beacon Council; Joe Chi, CAMACOL; Marcos Kerbel, FIBA; Alejandra Collarte and Olga Ramudo, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce; Alice Ancona, World Trade Center Miami.

January 26 — We were pleased to join Chairman Jose "Pepe" Diaz for the first ITC board meeting of 2022 on Wednesday, January 26. As mentioned, this year is extra special to us as ITC celebrates 20 years of County service, promoting Miami-Dade as a Global Gateway to international trade!

During the ITC meeting, we joined Chairman Jose "Pepe" Diaz in welcoming new appointee of District 3, Brenda Betancourt. In addition, Ralph Cutie, Director of the County's Aviation Department, provided a presentation about Miami International Airport's current expansion projects; Jaqueline del Cristo, Chairwoman of ITC's Sister Cities Committee, discussed updates on the County's Sister Cities program; ITC Interim Director Maria Dreyfus reported on the latest ITC initiatives and trade opportunities.

Lastly, ITC board members, Lenny Feldman and Alejandra Collarte, were appointed by the board as ITC's Chairman of the Mission Committee and Vice Chairwoman of the Sister Cities Committee, respectively. We congratulate them and thank all board members and guests for their participation.

January 25 — ITC's Interim Director Maria Dreyfus and Department Advisor Phillipa Valencia joined Chairman Jose "Pepe" Diaz to meet with Consul General of Dominican Republic in Miami, Jacobo Fernandez, to continue discussing agenda coordination for two upcoming engagements - a virtual event between Miami-Dade County and Santo Domingo, and an official visit from the Embassy of the Dominican Republic.

We look forward to hosting Ambassador Sonia Guzman, Ambassador of Dominican Republic to the U.S., and other members of the embassy, during their first official visit to Miami-Dade from February 28 - March, 2, 2022.

January 27 — ITC Interim Director Maria Dreyfus provided a presentation about Miami-Dade's trade market during a Virtual Trade Mission to Hidalgo, Mexico, hosted by the Consulate of Mexico in Miami.

We thank Consul General Jonathan Chait for extending us with an invitation to participate in this event. We also thank our trade partners, Ana Arroyo and Z. Joe Kulenovic of Enterprise Florida as well as Eric Olafson of PortMiami, for their participation, helping promote international trade and business development opportunities in Miami-Dade County.

We look forward to working together with the Consulate General of Mexico in Miami and the Government of the State of Hidalgo to increase commercial ties between both regions. In case you were unable to attend this Virtual Trade Mission, please contact Alexia Nunez at anunez@sre.gob.mx or 786-268-4918 for more information. Click here to see the product catalog.

January 11 — ITC's Interim Director Maria Dreyfus and Global Engagement Officer Sudeshna Chatterjee had the pleasure of meeting with Fernando Guldrís Iglesias, Director General of Xunta de Galicia, and Javier Perez-Palencia, representative of IGAPE in Miami, to discuss potential areas of collaboration between Galicia, Spain, and Miami-Dade County.