Pictured above: At the the Export Achievement Certificate ceremony: Rachid Sayouty, Director, Downtown LA EAC; Daniel Netz, Project Engineer, WET Design; Teresa Powell, Director of Business Development, WET Design; Mark Fuller, CEO and founder of WET Design; Maria Cino, Director General, USFCS; Amy Magat, Trade Specialist, Downtown LA EAC.

Overview
WET Design, a water features company based in Universal City, CA, received an Export Achievement certificate for a success in the UAE - the Marina Mall. Now, with the assistance of the Los Angeles Export Assistance Center, WET Design moves on to a project in Greece for the 2004 Olympics as well as a Commercial Service Gold Key in Australia. Read the story about the certificate presentation.

Commerce Department Honors WET Design for Export Achievement
Los Angeles, California, July 31-Exports are big business for small and midsized California companies. That was the message from Commerce Department Assistant Secretary and Director General Maria Cino, who today presented local company WET Design with the U.S. Commercial Service's Export Achievement Certificate. The award recognizes companies that are business clients of the Commerce Department's U.S. Commercial Service, and that have used their services to make their first export sale or open few foreign markets.

"Most jobs in America are created by small companies. Small and midsized companies like WET Design comprise almost 97 percent of U.S. exporters," said Maria Cino.

WET Design specializes in the design of water features worldwide. The company's designs can be seen in venues such as the Bellagio, Tokyo Dome, and their latest project--the Cauldron featured at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

WET Design turned to the U.S. Commercial Service for assistance in recovering a past-due payment from a customer in the United Arab Emirates. The company had installed a water feature at the main entrance of a multi-million dollar shopping mall in the UAE, but contacted the U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi when they did not receive the payment due upon completion of the project. Commercial Specialist Alex Khochafian in Abu Dhabi introduced the company to local trade specialist Amy Magat at the Los Angeles U.S. Export Assistance Center. As a result of the mediation provided by the U.S. Commercial Service in Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi, WET Design was able to recover the payment of $37,500.

The U.S. Commercial Service is a Commerce Department agency that helps small and medium-sized U.S. businesses sell their products and services globally. The U.S. Commercial Service's network includes 108 U.S. Export Assistance Centers throughout the United States and more than 150 international offices. In 2001, the U.S. Commercial Service helped U.S. businesses generate export sales worth more than $34 billion.

For more information on the U.S. Commercial Service, please visit www.buyusa.com.

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Market Briefs -- a combination of videoconference and streaming media technologies -- brings you real-time Commercial Service global market insights and opportunities from around the world. The United Arab Emirates Market Brief interview, taped in September 2002, is brought to you by the International Trade Administration, Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce. The use of trade, firm, or corporation names within this Webcast or on the surrounding pages, or links to Web sites outside the U.S. Federal Government are for the convenience of the user. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of any private sector Web site, product or service by the U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Commerce Department.