Who we are

Who we are and how it all began

Founded on October 31, 2018, the European Trade Promotion Organisations’ Association (ETPOA) aims to promote the interests of European trade promotion organisations (TPOs) in dialogue and collaboration with European institutions and other competent authorities.

An international non-profit organisation (AISBL) defined by Belgian law, ETPOA was established by 12 European TPOs from 10 EU member states. To see the current list of members, go to our members’ page.

Founding members

  • AICEP Portugal Global
  • AWEX – Wallonia Export Investment
  • Bulgaria SME Promotion Agency
  • Business France
  • Enterprise Greece
  • Enterprise Lithuania
  • FIT – Flanders Investment & Trade
  • HEPA – Hungarian Export Promotion Agency
  • Hub.Brussels
  • ICEX – Spain Trade & Investment
  • TradeMalta
  • Trade Service of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry & Tourism from Cyprus
Articles of Association

Milestones

  • March 21, 2019: publication in the Belgian Official Journal
  • February 17, 2019: legal personality granted by Royal Decree
  • October 31, 2018: official incorporation

Acknowledgment
The European Trade Promotion Organisations’ Association is more than just an association, it is a team effort. Therefore, we would like to thank the TPOs for their ongoing contributions in kind.

  • The website created by Enterprise Lithuania
  • The paper flyers manufactured and distributed by ICEX
  • Secretariat and artwork delivered by Enterprise Greece
  • A Headquarters by Flanders Investment & Trade
  • The INOV Contacto internship programme by AICEP
  • An internship agreement with Basque Trade & Investment

Mission, vision and values

Open dialogue is a major requisite for positive change. That’s why we constantly seek to engage in conversation on trade promotion with European institutions and organisations. In doing so, we aim to advocate close collaboration between every party that plays a role in supporting the internationalisation of European enterprises, especially SMEs.

No single individual is as strong as everyone together. The same rings true for all levels of government and stakeholders across Europe. By reaching out to one another and cooperating closely, we can create synergetic and complementary programmes and points of action together with the ultimate aim of helping European SMEs develop sustainable international businesses.

Synergy
Access
Sustainable growth
Innovation
Empowerment

Objectives

What makes us unique?

ETPOA members are all dedicated to the internationalisation of SMEs. Supporting SMEs to expand into international markets through trade promotion activities is their core business.

What makes us unique is that many of our members have both offices in their Member State as the first contact point for SMEs as well as a network of offices throughout the EU and in third countries. No other network provides such a fully integrated geographic coverage.

At the moment, our TPOs combined have 86 offices in their own Member States and 609 offices abroad. 157 offices support intra-EU trade and 452 offices support trade in third countries.