Monterey Bay International Trade Association (MBITA)

es access to global resources through a long established global network and the latest online, global trade technologies in order to maximize profits for its members and clients. MBITA is directed by experienced leaders in global trade, who understand the innovative methods of international business development. MBITA members benefit from this in-depth business and cross-cultural expertise. Please take a moment and review Our Services. HISTORY

MBITA started as a volunteer run business league in 1984 and became a fully operational international trade association and 501C6 California non-profit corporation in 1995 when it received a five year grant from the EDA of the U.S. Department of Commerce for the unprecedented, public-private sector export promotion program called BayTrade. MBITA was one of six founding partners of BayTrade representing the tri-county region of the Monterey Bay of California and together with its 5 partners represented seventeen counties in Northern California providing global trade promotion services at no cost and together from 1995-2000 supported small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) with trade promotion services that help generate over $337 million in documented new-to-market-exports from 1995 to 2000. The BayTrade partnership expanded its program to Southern California with four additional partners under the banner of LATrade and together these two organizations helped launch TradePort.org which has become one of the longest standing global trade websites on the web and is now managed by MBITA. MBITA and TradePort.org now support the U.S. Department of Commerce (USDOC) Commercial Service and their various export promotion services while identifying new challenges that small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) face in the global marketplace while targeting specific industries and impacted regions in California with high unemployment. MBITA also has created the new TradePort Collaborator which is this country’s first statewide trade promotion services intranet reserved for the staff (140+) of public and private sector non-profit organizations located in California that provide global trade promotion services. This ‘gated’ community of global trade promotion service providers is designed for virtual collaboration and project management on a California statewide basis where staff members of the TradePort Collaborator can leverage each others’ networks, resources, marketing channels and expertise to better serve their own respective members and clients with trade global trade promotion services to help create new jobs through increased bilateral trade and investment with the global marketplace. MBITA is now a self-sustaining non-profit organization funded by memberships, corporate sponsorships, events, trade missions and fee-based trade promotion services. MBITA has also developed new services such as the California Industry Cluster trade delegation service and MBITA’s Strategic Alliance Service while continuing to lead the way of online global trade for small and mid-sized businesses.