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The Maine International Trade Center will examine the expanded trade opportunities with the new European Union on Thursday, June 10 at its annual Maine International Trade Day. The event will be at the Marriott Sable Oaks in South Portland. Speakers from international business organizations and investment groups as well as Maine businesses will be featured. Representatives from several foreign consulates and trade groups are expected to attend. More information is available at mitc.com

Mainers see opportunity in EU growth
Several countries have joined the European Union.

Saturday’s expansion of the European Union to include 10 new countries comes as good news to Maine’s manufacturers.

According to statistics compiled by the Maine International Trade Center, Maine exported $335.5 million of goods and services to the EU in 2003. During the same period, it exported only $7.7 million to the 10 accession countries.

“Opportunities for growth in trade will emerge as these nations embrace standard trade practices and strengthen their domestic economies,” said Richard Coyle, president of MITC.

The countries who joined the EU May 1 are Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Malta, Estonia and Cyprus.

By joining the EU, these countries will have to sustain a functioning market economy, maintain a stable democracy and adopt the rules and standards of the EU. They also will begin trading with a single set of trade rules, a single tariff and a single set of administrative procedures.

Together they have a combined gross domestic product of $424 billion.

Maine’s major exports to the EU now are aircraft, pulp, industrial machinery, paper, chemical products, electrical machinery, optical/medical equipment, footwear, seafood and plastics.

John Williams, president of the Maine Pulp and Paper Association, said the expanded EU is an opportunity for Maine’s paper industry.

“As these countries become part of the EU and become more developed, they will use more paper, more magazines,” he said. “They (represent) a good opportunity as the kind of markets world wide that Maine can compete for.”

In 2003, Maine exported $60 million worth of pulp and $36 million of paper to the EU. By contrast, it exported only $560,000 worth of pulp and paper products to the accession countries.

– Carol Coultas