The SME Congress Steering Committee convened a meeting in Washington DC on April 24-25, 2008 to discuss participation in the 2008 Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) and to make plans for the Third SME Congress of the Americas on International Trade. Committee members met with the lead Department of Commerce coordinator for the ACF, representatives of IDB's Inter-American Investment Corporation, and others to evaluate potential for partnership and consider possible themes for the Third SME Congress. Both the Americas Competitiveness Forum and the SME Congress are linked to the Summit of the Americas. At this meeting Steering Committee members began drafting a proposal to coordinate a panel on SME Trade Capacity Building as part of the Second Americas Competitiveness Forum in Atlanta, Georgia in August 2008. This proposal was subsequently accepted by the commerce Department.