The International Trade Alliance (ITA), a Spokane-based nonprofit organization that seeks to help businesses here export their products, will announce its affiliation with the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate at a Feb. 19 dinner program here.

The event will be held at the Lincoln Center, 1316 N. Lincoln. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, Spokane Mayor Mary Verner, and LeRoy Nosbaum, CEO of Itron Inc., will be the featured speakers.

Mark Peters, executive director of the ITA, says manufacturing exports continue to grow here, and it's projected that more than $1 billion worth of manufactured goods were exported from Spokane County in 2008 based on preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Asia Pacific Partnership "brings together the governments and private sectors of Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, and Korea to participate in a program to expand investment in clean technologies, goods, and services; share energy-efficient best practices; and identify policy barriers to the diffusion of clean energy technologies," says a recent ITA press release.

Jeff Thomas, president of the Spokane Regional MarCom Association, says the dinner program will be "an event where local and regional exporting manufacturers and those seeking to export their products can learn how to leverage the ITA's resources and advance their particular company's growth objectives through the ITA's export strategies expertise."

Attendees may arrive at 5 p.m. to network with one another, and the program will begin at 6 p.m. The cost is $25 for ITA members and $35 for others. Call Wendy at 413-1470 before Friday, Feb. 13, to register.