These agreements will remove existing barriers to free trade in those countries, such as tariffs, regulatory barriers, and red tape. Currently, if a U.S. company wanted to sell a product in South Korea or Colombia, it had to pay an average tariff of around 12 percent; in Panama, the tariff was 7 percent. While American companies have been paying tariffs, many of our most tenacious competitors from the European Union and Canada have implemented trade agreements and are gaining market share at the expense of U.S companies.

Consider the projected impact of just the three free trade agreements passed yesterday. With South Korea and Colombia growing twice as fast as the U.S., and Panama growing three times as fast, free access to their markets is essential. Last year, even with trade barriers still in place, GE earned $2 billion in revenues from those three markets. Freer access will yield even faster sales growth that will directly and positively impact job growth here at home. The White House estimates that the South Korean free trade agreement will support more than 70,000 American jobs, boosting U.S. exports by up to $11 billion.

GE will continue to highlight the importance of free trade agreements like the ones passed today and advocate for passage of future, similar deals. Here in the U.S., we have the world’s best companies and employees, but 95 percent of consumers live outside the U.S. Reaching them—on the same terms as our toughest competitors—will benefit us all.

Ed Gerwin, Senior Fellow for Trade and Global Economic Policy at Third Way says, “A famous bank robber once said that he robbed banks because that’s where the money is. Well the United States needs to export because that’s where the economic growth is.”

In Washington, trade is about to get put to the test. Free trade agreements (FTAs) with three close allies — Korea, Colombia, and Panama — are ready to be submitted to Congress, and many thousands of GE workers stand to benefit from their timely approval.

The FTAs will eliminate tariffs in these markets that can impose costs of 10 percent or more on goods exported from the United States. They also eliminate regulatory, licensing and other government-imposed barriers, enabling U.S. companies like GE to compete and win abroad. Korea, Colombia and Panama are growing markets – supporting close to $2 billion in GE revenues last year. With FTAs in place there, we can anticipate GE sales to grow even faster – as they have with our other FTA partners – and support more U.S. jobs.

Jay Timmons, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, says prompt action on these agreements is crucial because the markets of Korea, Colombia and Central America are expanding. “There is growth and opportunity in those markets, and if the United States is not poised to take advantage of that opportunity, we’re not going to be able to compete in those markets effectively, when other countries around the world will be able to do so.”

Ever since 1880, when Thomas Edison built that first lighting factory in Menlo Park, GE has been manufacturing in America. And for more than 100 years, it has been selling those goods abroad, supporting jobs in the United States while helping to raise standards of living globally. Last year, GE had more than $17 billion worth of exports – double the number of just five years ago. Today, those international markets matter more than ever. Whether its sales of gas turbines to Saudi Arabia, health care devices to Mexico, or aircraft engines to China, exports to the world are helping to power GE, today and into the future.

As GE Chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt said earlier this week at the US Chamber of Commerce: “We should get these [FTAs] approved and get moving on other trade deals and we should do this today.”

Big picture: Click the image to enlarge it. GE’s global growth has expanded by about 15 percent a year for most of the past decade.

GE Vice Chairman John Rice, who’s been in charge of GE’s core aviation, transportation and healthcare businesses, has now been tapped to oversee all of GE’s non-U.S. operations — with particular emphasis on high-growth markets such as China, India, the Middle East and Brazil. He’s also charged with helping GE sell U.S.-made products all over the world.

A prime example can be seen in GE’s recent deals for power turbines and jet engines in India, which were in focus as part of President Obama’s trip to the country this weekend. As GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt underscored while there, those deals – valued at more than $1.4 billion — and others are part of GE’s goal to “be more focused on exports” and to double overall exports in five years.

For example, as the White House explained in its fact sheet on the trip, the $750 million deal with India’s Reliance Power, which is buying the turbines, will support an estimated 2,650 jobs in the U.S. as “GE purchases equipment from 240 suppliers across the United States—an estimated 14 percent of which are small- and medium-sized enterprises.”  In the jet engine deal, the White House notes that the engines are all “U.S. export content, supporting an estimated 4,440 jobs.”

Today’s announcement comes as GE continues to sign “company to country” agreements in places like Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Indonesia in which GE works directly with governments to craft technology and service solutions that meet local needs. And, just as GE recently reorganized its entire structurein India so that all of its operations in that market report into one business unit – operations in Germany will also be reorganized in a similar fashion.

Those growth initiatives have happened at the same time that GE, on the global R&D front, has invested $330 million since 2001 to create or expand its research centers in New York, China, Germany, and India (with Brazil soon to join the ranks).

Powering up: GE’s international growth can be seen in energy, such as our work with India’s state power company, pictured above. “[India is] going to invest in a whole range of different technologies and GE is going to be able to participate in most of them,” CEO Jeff Immelt said during his visit over the weekend, according to Bloomberg News. Read further coverage of the India trip in The Economic Times.

* Read today’s announcement about John Rice

In the area of oil and gas flow, Dresser makes highly engineered technologies such as safety and relief valves. In the area of measurement and distribution — such as at gas stations — they make equipment that dispenses fuel, compresses natural gas, and manages retail systems for store owners. And, like GE, they make a range of engines for utilities and industrial customers, with their work in low emissions technology and small-scale engines being particularly complementary to GE’s existing tech base. John Krenicki, Vice Chairman of GE and President and CEO of GE Energy, explains the deal in the video below:

The deal caps a flurry of GE Energy activity over the last 10 days: A joint venture to make off-shore wind turbines for China in China; the purchase of technology from Calnetix Power Solutions that recovers waste heat from industrial processes and uses it for electricity; and a $700 million deal to deliver turbines to Saudi Arabia’s new power plant. Other major GE Energy acquisitions over the years include Nuovo Pignone (Oil & Gas), Jenbacher (Gas Engines), Bently Nevada (conditioning and monitoring) and Enron Wind (Renewable energy).

Stream dream: Click the image to enlarge it. With the addition of Dresser, GE’s technology offerings to customers grows across the full energy spectrum, from upstream production technologies, to midstream power plants to downstream fuel stations.

Dresser not only holds the number one or number two position for most of its products in the marketplace, but it has a large base of technology already installed with energy customers. That creates a substantial services opportunity that’s in keeping with GE’s overall strategy to continue to grow its services base, which in 2009 generated $35 billion across all of GE’s businesses.

* Watch John Krenicki on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street
* Read today’s announcement
* Learn more details on www.gereports.com/energize_ge/
* Read “Greenville turbines head to Saudi Arabia in $700M deal” on GE Reports
* Read “GE & Harbin form JV for wind turbines in China” on GE Reports
* Read more Energy stories on GE Reports

Clean and mean: In addition to meeting the rising demand for power, the plant is also designed to address Saudi Arabia’s environmental needs. The gas turbines, which are made in GE’s Greenville, South Carolina plant, have advanced emissions control and will use cleaner burning natural gas as the primary fuel.

The new project, which is located about 80 kilometers west of the Saudi capital city of Riyadh, will add nearly 1,730 megawatts of power to the grid. Saudi Arabia, which has an installed capacity of 44,000 megawatts, is expected to need about 70,000 megawatts of power by the year 2020.

To date, GE has over 400 installations throughout the country, providing the Kingdom with over 20,000 megawatts of power. Recent projects include the supply of more than 30 gas turbines in a $1 billion deal announced last year; steam turbines for the expansion and conversion of another power plant; and power generation equipment for the Marafiq Independent Water and Power Project — the largest combined power generation and desalination plant in the world.

At your service: GE will supply seven Frame 7FA gas turbines, seen above, and two D11 steam turbines. In addition to providing the equipment and spare parts, GE will supply maintenance services over the next 20 years. As GE outlined in this year’s Annual Report, the company currently has $35 billion in product service revenue, with a $129 billion backlog. Services represent one-third of GE’s revenue and nearly three-quarters of our industrial earnings.

In April, GE took its 70-year relationship with Saudi Arabia to a new level with the signing of an agreement — part of GE’s “company to country” strategy — that’s designed to strengthen the country’s manufacturing sector and put it on a path to sustainable economic development by further diversifying its economy. At the same time, that relationship also translates into increased manufacturing — and the jobs that go with it — in the U.S., as often big-ticket infrastructure technologies, such as the gas turbines in today’s deal, are made at GE’s existing plants in the U.S.

As GE’s Liam McCollum explains in the video below, which provides an overview of GE’s work in the country: “We’re extremely well-regarded. We’re considered to be leaders in our field and the Saudi government recognizes that. They have such a high level of confidence in our products that we have the basis of an extraordinary relationship.”

Update: October 5, 2010. Read Bloomberg BusinessWeek‘s coverage of the turbine deal and an associated wastewater treatment deal that was also just signed with Saudia Arabia.

* Read the announcement
* Read about our earlier agreement with Saudi Arabia
* Read “Saudi Arabia targets sustainable growth with GE” on GE Reports

A rebroadcast of the opening session is available above. Nani’s remarks begin at the 46-minute mark. You can advance to that time by hitting the play button and then clicking the time bar running along the bottom of the video screen.

“One that is difficult to put in place as it is a long-term effort is education,” Nani stressed to the business and government leaders gathered in Cartagena, Colombia. “I travel to many countries and see many places. I can tell you that the places that flourish are the ones that have the two E’s: The ‘E’ of Energy – and I’m not talking about oil or gas – I’m talking about the ability of lighting bulbs. And Education. You see the countries that have energy but no education go nowhere. And countries that have education but no energy don’t go anywhere. The countries you see prospering are the ones that have both of these, heavily invested.”

Praising the major infrastructure projects currently underway in the region – including Colombia’s current roadway construction projects, Nani said, “We see great investments in infrastructure…. I think there are still big needs of power, big needs of water, for electricity, big needs for roads, for airports. These need to happen in order to bring these economies to the level where they belong and where they can prosper.”

Nani observed that between 1981 and 2007, the world experienced a phenomenal type of growth that had not been seen before, driven by the introduction of new technologies and the phenomenon of globalization. With hundreds of millions of people entering a new way of life in places such as China and India, the need for commodities exploded and Latin America was one of the regions that benefited as immense wealth was created in the process.

But now is the time, he said, to diversify. Pointing to the Middle East as an example, he noted how the economies there are rapidly diversifying away from oil and into a range of other industries. Nani also underscored the need to ensure that old threats do not emerge, such as those of political and democratic instability, he said. “Another mistake is the return to protectionism, a return to high import duties, and a return to a taxation system that does not conform to taxation systems in other parts of the world,” he said. “Tell me an economy in history that has prospered with big import duties or taxation.”

To a round of applause, Nani said “one other important point is the absolute elimination of corruption. Corruption is always a threat to development. Corruption leads to uncompetitive environments…. I am appealing to governments to really fight this enemy. It is the enemy for economic development. Following up on corruption is the concept of governance: clean, well-constructed illuminated governments is very important.”

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Taking a look at GE in Brazil during WEF Latin America”
* “Putting flare gas on the firing line at the WEF in Davos”
* “Switching smart grids from ‘demo’ to ‘deploy’ at WEF”
* “Brazil’s turbines sweetly hum with sugar-based ethanol”
* “The sugar-land express: Brazil orders 50 locomotives”
* “Brazil’s new Azul airline inks $1B services deal with GE”
* “GE wins $250 million offshore drilling contract in Brazil”
* “Brazil boosts clean gas in the Amazon; wind in the East”

Rail good news! The Model C25 six-axle locomotives were designed specifically to accommodate Nigeria’s weight per axle and clearance characteristics. Locomotives similar to the C25 are already successfully hauling freight in South Africa. Approximately 17,000 GE locomotives are in use in more than 50 countries around the world.

The new GE fleet will not only help Nigeria meet its rail ambitions — they mark another global jobs collaboration across GE. Just as we reported in our recent “sugarland express” story about ethanol giant Cosan ordering 50 locomotives for its Brazilian operations, the engines are manufactured in our Grove City, Pennsylvania plant while the locomotives are built by GE’s facility in Brazil. The South America plant has built GE diesel electric locomotives, including the C Series being used by Nigeria, since 1967.

Daniel Weinreich

Lorenzo Simonelli, President and CEO of GE Transportation, said “the arrival of the first locomotives represents an important step in GE Transportation’s entry into the Nigerian market place.” And as GE’s Daniel Weinreich explains in the audio clip below, the new technology being introduced into the aging Nigerian fleet will not only mean improved hauling capabilities on both freight and passenger lines, but increased fuel efficiency, too.

GE has a long-standing relationship with Nigeria in other sectors such as energy, aviation, and oil & gas, with over 170 employees in country. In 2008, GE’s revenues in Africa were $3.5 billion, an increase of almost 40 percent over 2007. For example, GE Aviation has sold about 95 engines with a list value of $1 billion in Nigeria since 2006. And, of the more than 200 GE gas turbines currently installed in Africa, Nigeria is home to more than half.

A fast train to Africa: The C25 Locomotive is seen here in Brazil with a delegation from Nigeria before shipping. From left to right: Bature Gafai, Director of Land Transport; Bernard Udoh, Chairman House Committee of Land Transport; Kayode Garrick, Nigerian Ambassador to Brazil; Isa Ibrahim Bio, Minister of Transport; Senator Yakubu Lado, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport; Mohammed Mijindadi, GE Transportation Commercial Leader for West Africa; and Umar Sarkinfada, Minister of the Nigerian Embassy in Brazil.

* Read today’s announcement
* Learn more about GE’s other operations in Nigeria
* Read “GE and Nigeria ink landmark infrastructure agreement” on GE Reports
* Read “Healthcare in Africa: A closer look at Ghana” on GE Reports
* Read “The sugar-land express: Brazil orders 50 locomotives” on GE Reports
* Read more Transportation stories on GE Reports

Thinking big: The 2.5xl turbine has a rotor diameter of 100 meters — or about the length of a football field. By comparison, its widely used 1.5-megawatt cousin has a rotor diameter of 70 to 77 meters. The 2.5xl turbine isn’t currently sold in the U.S., but GE will begin offering it to North American customers next year — with those units to be assembled in Pensacola, Fla.

The European Union currently has a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent while increasing renewable energy capacity 20 percent by the year 2020. To reach this objective, the EU has set national targets for each EU member state, based on the per capita GDP of each country. Conversely, in the U.S., current proposals before Congress call for just 3 to 6 percent of total U.S. electricity generation to be produced by renewables by 2012 — which is essentially equal to or below the status quo.

The first phase of the project –- Fantanele — and the second phase — Cogealac — are both located in Romania, which at the end of 2008 had only 10 megawatts of wind generation equipment installed, according to the European Wind Energy Association. But the new wind farm will increase that dramatically. When phase two is completed in 2011, the country will have a total capacity of 600 megawatts of wind power.

As Reuters says in its story on the deal, “The planned two-stage wind farm will be around twice the size of the next biggest onshore wind farm in Europe and marks one of the largest recent foreign investments in European Union newcomer Romania.” One of the key reasons that the new wind farm is located in Romania is due to the country’s new pro-renewables legislation. As Reuters notes, the government is “eager for renewable power plants to bring them closer to EU goals while at the same time replacing outdated communist-era energy infrastructure.”

The 2.5xl wind turbine represents GE’s most advanced wind turbine technology in terms of efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities. It is designed to yield the highest annual energy production in its class and builds upon the success of GE’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the world’s most widely deployed wind turbine with more than 12,000 now installed.

Nearly 200 of GE’s 2.5-megawatt wind turbines have been installed in nine countries and have compiled more than one million operating hours. Most of GE’s 2.5xl wind turbines for European projects are manufactured at GE Energy’s wind turbine facility in Salzbergen, Germany, which recently was expanded to help meet Europe’s growing demand for wind turbines.

* Read today’s announcement
* Learn about efforts to strengthen Renewable Electricity Standards in the U.S.
* See how a wind turbine blade is made in our Blade Runner series
* Read “GE’s giant wind turbines set to debut in Sweden”
* Read about the 2.5xl turbines coming soon to the U.S.
* See the technical specs of the 2.5MW turbine

Ideas are flowing: Located on the National University of Singapore campus, the center will initially house 30 GE scientists and engineers working closely with NUS researchers.

The new center will develop and test technology in areas such as desalination, water reuse, the generation of ultra-pure water for the semiconductor industry, chemical analysis of water and wastewater, and power generation.

Energy and water are both facing the same challenges: demand outstripping sustainable supply. An estimated six to 20 percent of an average city’s energy demand is used to produce, treat and transport water, while 15 percent of freshwater worldwide is used for industrial purposes. But as the industrial sector grows, so will demand for power and water.

Turning on the taps: Among those touring the new facility at the launch were, from left: Gee Paw Tan, Chairman of the Public Utilities Board of Singapore, Dr. Tony Tan, Chairman of the National Research Foundation of Singapore, and Heiner Markhoff, CEO and president of GE Water.

Singapore, which once relied on its neighbor Malaysia for treated water, became an early champion for greater water supply independence through the installation of industrial and municipal water treatment and recycling systems. Today, the country meets more than 60 percent of its water needs from local water catchment, water reclamation and seawater desalination.

“Power and water are interdependent; water is needed to produce energy and energy is needed for water treatment,” said Heiner Markhoff, president and CEO of GE Water. “At GE, we have developed advanced technologies that can treat any source water, or wastewater for that matter, to the quality required for power generation and many other industrial purposes.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia also has water news flowing today, with GE Water, a business unit of GE Energy, opening the GE Saudi Water & Process Technology Center in Dammam. The nearly $10 million facility incorporates a blending plant for water treatment chemicals and offers advanced water, water reuse, wastewater and process solutions to local and regional customers. It is the second GE Water facility in the Gulf, following a recently opened manufacturing facility and office complex in Dubai, UAE. The new center is a joint venture between GE and Al Tamimi Group, a leading Saudi Arabian engineering and construction firm with which GE has had a relationship since 1957.

GE’s expanding Middle East partnership: At the opening of the GE Saudi Technology Water Center, from left, were: Glen Messina, CEO of the Chemicals & Monitoring Solutions business for GE Water and Tariq Ali Al Tamimi, President, Tamimi Group.

* Read today’s Singapore announcement
* Read the university’s coverage of the event
* Download the speech delivered at the Singapore launch by the NUS president
* Download the speech given by GE’s Heiner Markhoff in Singapore
* Learn more about the new Singapore research center
* Learn more about the Saudi Arabia facility