Gillibrand In Melville Friday To Push For FTZ Expansion

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will be in Melville on Friday to urge the U.S. Department of Commerce to approve Suffolk County’s request to expand its Foreign Trade Zone program.

According to the senator, approval would enable Suffolk to grow existing industries while attracting new companies that have import and export operations with incentives such as duty exemption and reduced costs for assembling or manufacturing products in the region.

Gillibrand, a member of President Barack Obama’s Export Council, will be holding a press conference Friday morning at International Warehouse Group, 290 Spagnoli Road in Melville to speak on the topic. The event is scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m.

She noted that Long Island has been expanding its exports, from $8.6 billion of overseas business in 2007 to nearly $11 billion in 2011. Suffolk accounts for an estimated 8.4 percent of New York State’s exports value.

With Long Island’s exports growing, Gillibrand said she would support the county’s recently submitted application and urge feds to quickly review and approve its request.