Former Speaker Hastert Presents SUN OVENS International
an Export Achievement Award

On December 18, 2003, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Dennis Hastert presented Paul Munsen, president of Sun Ovens International, with the US Commerce Department's Export Achievement Certificate. The award recognized SUN OVENS International for exports to Haiti that were made with the assistance of the Department of Commerce's Foreign Commercial Service.

» Click here to find out more about SUN OVENS® in Haiti.

"International Trade is a vital part of our local economic growth," said Hastert. "Exporting allows area companies to increase sales, expand their businesses and create jobs for the people of Illinois. SUN OVENS International is an outstanding example of how small business can work with government to take advantage of international opportunities. I'm proud to recognize this Illinois company today and am honored to have them located in my congressional district."

"Haiti is one of the most deforested countries in the world," said Paul Munsen, president of SUN OVENS International. "The need for solar cooking in Haiti is immense. We are very committed to providing an alternative to cooking with charcoal so that the few remaining trees in Haiti can be saved and reforestation can be come effective. Working in Haiti has proved to be very challenging and we have needed to take a unique approach to developing this market. Due to the extreme poverty and lack of many basic resources, we found that we cannot market in Haiti the same way that we do in other developing countries. We have been working in Haiti since we started the business in 1998 and have taken an approach that has involved combining the efforts of private sector business, NGOs, Rotary Clubs and the US with the Haitian government. The DOC's Gold Key program opened a segment of the market that we did not even know existed," said Munsen. "It has helped us find retailers that are interested in selling ovens.

From left Paul Munsen, president of SUN OVENS International, Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S House of Represenatives, Mary Joyce, director of DOC's U.S. Export Assistance Center in Chicago and Bernadine Smith, International Trade Specialist, U.S. Commercial Service.