[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 8, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 854-856]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-432]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 5 / Tuesday, January 8, 2002 / 
Notices  

[[Page 854]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Commodity Credit Corporation


Announcement of the Emerging Markets Program for Fiscal Year 2002

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Commodity Credit Corporation is inviting private sector 
proposals for the FY 2002 Emerging Markets Program.

DATES: All proposals must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard 
Time, March 11, 2002. Announcements of funding decisions for the EMP 
are anticipated sometime after mid-July 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marketing Operations Staff, Foreign 
Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Room 4932S, STOP 
1042, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-1042, phone: 
(202) 720-4327, fax: (202) 720-9361, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) announces that proposals are 
being accepted for participation in the Fiscal Year 2002 Emerging 
Markets Program (EMP). The purpose of the EMP is to assist U.S. 
organizations, public and private, to improve market access and to 
develop and promote U.S. agricultural products and/or processes in low-
to middle income countries that offer promise of emerging market 
opportunities. This is to be accomplished by providing, or paying the 
costs of, approved technical assistance activities in those emerging 
markets. The EMP is administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service 
(FAS).
    The Act defines an emerging market as any country that the 
Secretary of Agriculture determines:
    (1) Is taking steps toward a market-oriented economy through the 
food, agriculture, or rural business sectors of the economy of the 
country; and
    (2) Has the potential to provide a viable and significant market 
for United States agricultural commodities or products of United States 
agricultural commodities.
    Because funds are limited and the range of potential emerging 
market countries is worldwide, proposals for technical assistance 
activities (``proposals'') will be considered which target those 
countries with: (1) Per capita income less than $9,265 (the ceiling on 
upper middle income economies as determined by the World Bank (World 
Development Indicators 2001)); and (2) population greater than 1 
million. Proposals may address suitable regional groupings, e.g., the 
islands of the Caribbean Basin.

Authority

    The EMP is authorized by Section 1542(d)(1)(D) of the Food, 
Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, as amended (the Act). 
Up to $10 million is available to fund the program.

Eligible Applicants, Commodities, and Activities

    Any United States agricultural or agribusiness organization, 
university, or state department of agriculture is eligible to 
participate in the EMP. Proposals from research and consulting 
organizations will be considered if they provide evidence of 
substantial participation by the U.S. industry. U.S. market development 
cooperators may seek funding to address priority, market specific 
issues and to undertake activities not suitable for funding under other 
FAS marketing programs, e.g. the Foreign Market Development Cooperator 
Program and the Market Access Program.
    All agricultural products, except tobacco, are eligible for 
consideration. Proposals which include multiple commodities are also 
eligible.
    Only technical assistance activities are eligible for 
reimbursement. Following are examples of the types of activities that 
may be funded:
    --Projects designed specifically to improve market access in 
emerging foreign markets. Examples: activities intended to mitigate the 
impact of sudden political events or economic and currency crises in 
order to maintain U.S. market share; responses to time-sensitive market 
opportunities;
    --Marketing and distribution of value-added products, including new 
products or uses. Examples: food service development; market research 
on potential for consumer-ready foods or new uses of a product;
    --Studies of food distribution channels in emerging markets, 
including infrastructural impediments to U.S. exports; such studies 
should be specific in their focus and may include cross-commodity 
activities which focus on problems, e.g., distribution, which affect 
more than one industry. Examples: grain storage handling and inventory 
systems development; distribution infrastructure development;
    --Projects that specifically address various constraints to U.S. 
exports, including sanitary and phytosanitary issues and other non-
tariff barriers. Examples: seminars on U.S. food safety standards and 
regulations; assessing and addressing pest and disease problems that 
inhibit U.S. product exports;
    --Assessments and follow up activities designed to improve country-
wide food and business systems, to reduce trade barriers, to increase 
prospects for U.S. trade and investment in emerging markets, and to 
determine the potential use for general export credit guarantees for 
commodities, facilities and services. Examples: product needs 
assessments and market analysis; assessments for using facilities 
credits to address infrastructural impediments;
    --Projects that help foreign governments collect and use market 
information and develop free trade policies that benefit American 
exporters as well as the target country or countries. Examples: 
agricultural statistical analysis; development of market information 
systems; policy analysis;
    --Short-term training in broad aspects of agriculture and 
agribusiness trade that will benefit U.S. exporters, including seminars 
and training at trade shows designed to expand the potential for U.S. 
agricultural exports by focusing on the trading system. Examples: 
retail training; marketing seminars; transportation seminars; training 
keyed to opening new or expanding existing markets.
    The Program funds technical assistance activities on a project-by-

[[Page 855]]

project basis. EMP funds may not be used to support normal operating 
costs of individual organizations, nor as a source by which to recover 
prior expenses from previous or ongoing projects. Ineligible activities 
include restaurant promotions; branded product promotions (including 
labeling and supplementing normal company sales activities intended to 
increase awareness and stimulate sales of branded products); 
advertising; administrative and operational expenses for trade shows; 
and the preparation and printing of brochures, flyers, posters, etc., 
except in connection with specific technical assistance activities such 
as training seminars. Other items excluded from funding are contained 
in the FY 2002 EMP Guidelines.

Project Suitability and Qualification Requirements

    The underlying premise of the EMP is that there are distinctive 
characteristics of emerging agricultural markets that necessitate or 
benefit significantly from U.S. governmental assistance before the 
private sector moves to develop these markets through normal corporate 
or trade promotional activities. The emphasis is on marketing 
opportunities where there are risks that the private sector would not 
normally undertake alone. The EMP is intended to supplement, not 
supplant, the efforts of the U.S. private sector and it complements the 
efforts of other FAS marketing programs. Once a market access issue has 
been addressed by the EMP, further market development activities may be 
considered under other programs such as GSM-102 or GSM-103 credit 
guarantee programs, the Facility Guarantee Program, the Supplier 
Guarantee Program, the Market Access Program, or the Cooperator 
Program. Section 108 funds may be used to complement funding provided 
by the EMP.
    The following marketing criteria will be used to determine the 
suitability of projects for funding under the EMP:
    1. Low U.S. market share and significant market potential.
     Is there a significant lag in U.S. market share of a 
specific commodity in a given country or countries?
     Is there an identifiable obstacle or competitive 
disadvantage facing U.S. exporters (e.g., competitor financing, 
subsidy, competitor market development activity) or a systemic obstacle 
to imports of U.S. products (e.g., inadequate distribution, 
infrastructure impediments, insufficient information, lack of financing 
options or resources)?
     What is the potential of a project to generate a 
significant increase in U.S. agricultural exports in the near-to 
medium-term? (Estimates or projections of trade benefits to commodity 
exports, and the basis for evaluating such, must be included in EMP 
proposals.)
    2. Recent change in a market.
     Is there, for example, a change in a sanitary or 
phytosanitary trade barrier; a change in an import regime or the 
lifting of a trade embargo; or a shift in the political or financial 
situation in a country?

Application Requirements and Process

    It is highly recommended that any organization considering applying 
to the Program for FY 2002 first obtain a copy of the 2002 Program 
Guidelines. These Guidelines contain information on requirements that a 
proposal must include in order to be considered for funding under the 
Program.
    Requests for the 2002 EMP Guidelines and additional information may 
be obtained from the Marketing Operations Staff at the address above. 
The Guidelines are also available at the following URL address: http://www.fas.usda.gov/mos/em-markets/em-markets.html.
    To assist FAS in making determinations regarding funding, 
applications should be no longer than ten (10) pages and include the 
following information: (a) Name of organization submitting the 
proposal; (b) Federal tax ID number of submitting organization; (c) 
date of proposal; (d) address, telephone and fax numbers of the 
organization; (e) full title of proposal; (f) constraint description 
activities (statement of problem to be addressed); (g) objectives and 
detailed description of project approach and specific; (h) benefits to 
U.S. agricultural exports as a result of the project, including 
specific performance measures; (i) target country/countries for 
proposed activities; (j) supporting market analysis of the target 
market(s)--brief economic analysis for each commodity and country, 
including current market conditions and relevant trade data--and 
existing size of U.S. export market share, in dollars and/or 
quantities, and the basis or source(s) for this data; (k) information 
on whether similar activities are or have previously been funded in 
target country/countries (e.g., under FAS's MAP and/or FMD programs); 
(l) a clearly stated explanation as to why participating 
organization(s) are unlikely to carry out activities without Federal 
financial assistance; (m) projected starting date (should be after 15 
July 2002) and time line(s) for project implementation; (n) detailed, 
line item project budget, including other sources of funding and 
contributions from participating organizations (additional requirements 
are contained in the 2002 Program Guidelines) and any third party 
contributions. Qualifications of applicant(s) should be included, but 
as an attachment.
    This notice is complemented by concurrent notices announcing other 
foreign market development programs administered by FAS including the 
Market Access Program (MAP), the Foreign Market Development Cooperator 
(Cooperator) Program, the Section 108 Program, and the Quality Samples 
Program (QSP). For FY 2002, EMP applicants have the opportunity to 
utilize the Unified Export Strategy (UES) application process, an 
online system which provides a means for interested applicants to 
submit a consolidated and strategically coordinated single proposal 
that incorporates funding requests for any or all of these programs. 
Applicants are not required to use the UES, but are strongly encouraged 
to do so because it reduces paperwork and expedites the FAS processing 
and review cycle.
    Applicants planning to use the on-line system must contact the 
Marketing Operations Staff at (202) 720-4327 to obtain site access 
information. A login ID and password will be supplied to a prospective 
applicant upon request. A ``Help'' file will be available to assist 
applicants with the process. However, the on-line application for the 
EMP will not be available until approximately late January. Therefore, 
all organizations applying for funding assistance in FY 2002 are urged 
to begin preparing their applications in accordance with the 
requirements contained herein and the FY 2002 Program Guidelines, and 
provide this information once the online application is available. A 
notice concerning the availability of the online system will be posted 
on the FAS web site. A printed version of the proposal should also be 
submitted (using WordPerfect, Word or compatible format) to one of the 
following addresses:
    Hand Delivery (including FedEx, DHL, UPS, etc.): Marketing 
Operations Staff, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, Room 4932-South,1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, 
DC 20250-1042.
    U.S. Postal Delivery: Marketing Operations Staff, Foreign 
Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, STOP 1042, 1400 
Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-1042.

[[Page 856]]

Allocation of Funds

    In general, all qualified proposals received before the application 
deadline will compete for EMP funding. The limited funds and the range 
of emerging markets worldwide in which the funds may be used preclude 
CCC from approving large budgets for individual projects. While there 
is no minimum or maximum amount set for EMP-funded projects, most are 
funded at a level of less than $500,000 and for a duration of one year 
or less. Multi-year proposals may be considered in the context of a 
strategic detailed plan of implementation. Funding in such cases is 
normally provided one year at a time, with commitments beyond the first 
year subject to interim evaluations.
    In general, priority consideration will be given to proposals that 
identify and seek to address specific problems or constraints in rural 
business systems or food and agribusiness systems in emerging markets 
through technical assistance activities to expand or maintain U.S. 
agricultural exports. Priority will also be given to those proposals 
that include the willingness of the applicant to commit its own funds, 
or those of the U.S. industry, to seek export opportunities in an 
emerging market. The percentage of private funding proposed for a 
project will therefore be a critical factor in determining which 
proposals are funded under the EMP. Proposals will also be judged on 
their ability to provide benefits to the organization receiving EMP 
funds and to the broader industry which that organization represents.

Reporting Requirements

    A performance report detailing the results of each project 
supported with EMP funds must be submitted to the Marketing Operations 
Staff at the address above. Because public funds are used to support 
EMP projects, these reports will be made available to the public. 
Complete final financial reports are to accompany performance reports.

Closing Date for Applications

    The deadline for all applications to the EMP is 5:00 p.m. Eastern 
Standard Time, March 11, 2002. Announcements of funding decisions for 
the EMP are anticipated sometime after mid-July 2002.

    Signed at Washington, DC on December 31, 2001.
Mary T. Chambliss,
Acting Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service, and Vice President, 
Commodity Credit Corporation.
[FR Doc. 02-432 Filed 1-7-02; 8:45 am]
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