Senate: Trade Corps Fellowship program will boost students, trade

OLYMPIA – Anytime Washington students can receive advanced training in valuable career fields, it’s a good thing. When they can boost the state’s trade at the same time, it’s even better.

That’s the idea behind legislation passed today by the Senate that will place students fluent in a country’s language and customs to work in state trade offices in that country.

“One of the keys to Washington companies trading overseas is accurate intelligence and cultural information about the countries with which they wish to trade,” said Sen. Paull Shin, D-Edmonds, the sponsor of Senate Bill 6330. “While our state has several overseas offices to provide intelligence and expertise to Washington businesses, our presence is much smaller than it should be.”

Shin’s bill would create a Washington Trade Corps Fellowship program that places qualified students for up to a year in a trade office to learn the language and culture of the host country. The students would provide additional staffing to the trade office, thereby helping Washington companies do business overseas.

The program would place up to five Washington college and graduate students per year. To qualify, applicants would need to be enrolled in schools that offer a credential in fields that prepare them for international work and be proficient in the language of the countries in which they will be placed. Fellows would receive stipends of at least $10,000 plus living and travel expenses.

“This is an idea whose time is long overdue,” Shin said. “The benefits are obvious: Newcomers to the work force will gain valuable experience, and the ranks of our overseas offices will be expanded by staffers who will become outstanding ambassadors and learn how to export our excellent Washington products.”

The bill passed unanimously and awaits consideration in the House of Representatives.

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