June 26, 2006 9:00 AM, EDT

FedEx Launches Trade Initiative With France

Move Is Aimed at Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

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edEx Corp. said Monday that it has joined in an agreement with the French Office of Economic and Commercial Affairs to expand trade and investment between France and the United States.

The two parties will make their resources available to small- and medium-sized French and U.S. businesses that want to import and export between the two countries, FedEx said.

FedEx’s role in the initiative will be to promote awareness among its customers about the benefits of the export-assistance network present in six U.S. cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington.

The initiative also includes joint export promotion that links customer seminars, sales force training and direct marketing campaigns.

“Already an average of more than $1 billion in commercial and financial transactions take place between the two countries every day,” said Michael Ducker, president, FedEx International.

“We plan to grow that number by using the FedEx and FOECA portfolio of resources and expertise to help small- and medium-sized businesses build their export markets,” he said in a statement.

FedEx is ranked No. 2 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.