NEWARK, N.J., Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Appalachian Regional Commission (a regional economic development agency consisting of 13 member states) is now using PIERS, The Standard in Trade Intelligence, to support their Global Appalachia Export Initiative.

The new Global Appalachia initiative has made available to each ARC member-state up to $100,000 in ARC Co-Chair funds to match, dollar-for-dollar, individual state or state-secured investments that support the goals of the National Export Initiative by expanding Appalachian export success.  With an emphasis on small-to-medium size businesses and the unique challenges and opportunities of Appalachia's rural areas, Global Appalachia encourages a stronger partnership between ARC member-states, the federal government, and Appalachian businesses to increase the number of Appalachian businesses that want to export and increase the value of exports for Appalachian businesses currently exporting.

To support ARC's effort, two key trade intelligence solutions from PIERS, PIERS Prospects™ and PIERS StatsPlus™ are being implemented across 11 of the 13 member states. Utilizing PIERS Prospects, participating ARC member states will gain access to actionable intelligence that combines company profiles from Dun & Bradstreet with the granularity and richness of data from export Bills of Lading. This data will allow each state to focus their programs and marketing around companies within their state that export goods or have the potential to export. PIERS StatsPlus combines international trade statistics with market specific trade information to provide a global picture of commodities that can help identify growing markets for commodities specific to each states' exports.

"As an economic development partnership between the federal government and our 13 member-states, the Appalachian Regional Commission understands the importance of developing the Region's export success.  Helping us position Appalachia for the future, our new multi-year partnership with PIERS is providing our members with the key international trade data that the Region needs to engage, compete, and succeed in the global economy of the 21st century," said J. Scott Hercik, Transportation and International Trade Advisor, Appalachian Regional Commission.

Wael Jarous, Vice President of PIERS said, "The formation of this partnership between PIERS and ARC speaks volume to our commitment to helping support the efforts of individual states as they strive to reach the goal set forth by the National Export Initiative.  As the only trade intelligence provider that offers export data with transactional details, PIERS is uniquely qualified to assist economic development agencies with their strategic planning and business development efforts."

For more information about PIERS U.S. Export Data visit www.piers.com/usexports or call 973-776-8660 to speak to a solutions expert.

About PIERS

PIERS is the most comprehensive database of U.S. waterborne trade activity in the world providing information services to thousands of subscribers globally. Launched more than 35 years ago, PIERS was the first venture in digital global trade intelligence and quickly became the industry standard for accuracy, reliability and insight. Our unique infrastructure and proprietary technology allow us to not only publish import data, but also complete coverage of U.S. export transactional data. PIERS is a division of UBM Global Trade, and a sister company of The Journal of Commerce.  For more information, visit www.PIERS.com, or call 1-800-952-3839.

SOURCE PIERS

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