For Immediate Release:January 6, 2006
Contact:Victoria
Park (202) 482-3809
Gil Nielsen (IDT) (973) 438-3553
Joseph Kelly (Maddak) (973) 694-0500
Senior Bush Administration Official Honors New Jersey
Companies
For Export Achievements
IDT of Newark and Maddak of Wayne Receive Awards
Franklin L. Lavin, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade
today presented the U.S. Commerce Department's Export Achievement Award
to IDT of Newark and Maddak, a division of Bel-Art Products, of Wayne.
The award is presented to businesses that have benefited from the Department's
Commercial Service export assistance to make export sales or open new
foreign markets.
"Ninety-five percent of the world's consumers live outside of the
United States, and these companies serve as outstanding examples of New
Jersey companies that are creating jobs and strengthening the local economy
through exporting," Lavin said. "The Bush Administration will
continue to work hard to help U.S. firms increase their exports by opening
up foreign markets to American goods and generating high-paying jobs for
the working people of New Jersey and across the country. I commend them
for their commitment to exporting."
"IDT is committed to providing affordable communications to people
around the globe. Thanks to the hard work of IDT's employees and the U.S.
Department of Commerce, we've been able to do that," said Jim Courter,
IDT's CEO. "As IDT grows and expands internationally the research
and information provided by the Newark U.S. Export Assistance Center helps
us to develop products and services that meet the needs of consumers world
wide, especially those in emerging markets."
IDT's (www.idt.net) companies help people
around the world communicate in new and better ways. Founder and Chairman
Howard Jonas discovered that making international phone calls from foreign
countries was priced at many times the cost of making the same calls from
the United States. He realized that affordable international calling was
a service needed by many people and IDT began delivering reliable, low-cost
long distance services to overseas customers and has since successfully
expanded to several other areas of telecommunications. The Newark U.S.
Export Assistance Center has provided IDT with counseling, industry specific
market research and trade leads, most recently in Africa.
Based in Newark, IDT employs 2000 people in New Jersey and has worked
with the U.S. Commercial Service since 1999.
"On behalf of everyone at Maddak and the Landsberger family, I would
like to thank the Department of Commerce for this prestigious award,"
said Joe Kelly. "I would also like to thank our friends at the Newark
Export Assistance Center, in particular Carmela Mammas and Harvey Rubenstein.
If it were not for their help and support, I would not be standing here
today."
The MADDAK (www.maddak.com) division
of Bel-Art Products (www.belart.com)
specializes in healthcare rehabilitation products for the disability and
rehabilitation markets. Based in Wayne, Maddak has 100 employees in New
Jersey and most recently used the services of the Newark Export Assistance
Center to enter the healthcare market in Ireland. This success was a result
of Maddak's participation in a U.S. Commercial Service organized catalog
showcase. As a direct result of export counseling and the utilization
of various Commercial Service products and services, Maddak has reported
an increase to market sale of its healthcare products to Japan. In addition
to Ireland and Japan, the U.S. Commercial Service in the last two years
has assisted Maddak expand to the following countries: China, Dominican
Republic, France, India, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Singapore, Switzerland,
Trinidad & Tobago, Thailand, UAE and the United Kingdom.
The U.S. Commercial Service is a U.S. Commerce Department agency that
helps small and midsize U.S. businesses sell their products and services
globally. The Newark U.S. Export Assistance Center is part of the agency's
worldwide network, which includes 108 U.S. Export Assistance Centers throughout
the United States and more than 150 international offices. For more information
on the U.S. Commercial Service, please visit www.export.gov
or call (973) 645-4682.