If patience is a virtue, then those waiting for Washington to approve the pending free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama have been saints. But the need to grow our sluggish economy and create jobs has lifted the level of urgency.

There's bipartisan support for these trade deals, the President asked Congress to pass them, and the process has begun to move them through Congress.

As part of that process, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will be holding a hearing on the FTAs on Friday. Myron Brilliant, the Chamber's Senior Vice President for International Affairs, will testify. To get a hint of what he'll say, check out his interview with CNBC. Here's a part where he talks about how trade and the FTAs will benefit small and medium-size businesses:

LL: How much will these FTAs benefit small businesses?

MB: There’s a common misconception that trade is important only to big companies. Often overlooked is how critical these agreements are to small medium-size businesses. More than 97% of the quarter million U.S. companies that export are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and they account for nearly a third of U.S. merchandise exports, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In fact, the number of SMEs that export has more than doubled over the past 15 years. Looking specifically at exports to these three countries, nearly 30,000 U.S. small and mid-sized companies export to South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, and they account for roughly one-third of U.S. exports to these countries.

Take the largest deal, Korea, for example. U.S. small and medium enterprises play an important role in exporting goods and services to Korea, and these firms accounted for 89% of all U.S. companies exporting in Korea in 2007 and $10.8 billion of total U.S. exports to Korea that year. These exports in every category are expected to grow significantly once the agreement is passed.

Or look at the smallest of the deals, with Panama. It is also an important market for U.S. small business. More than 7,500 U.S. companies export their products to Panama. Of this total, more than 6,000, or 83%, are small and medium-sized enterprises. These SMEs exported $1.1 billion worth of merchandise to Panama in 2009. This represented one-third of all U.S. merchandise exports to the country.