Press release from the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership:
NEIRP to join Governor Daniels on foreign trade mission
Return trip to Asia builds business connections for Northeast Indiana
(November 1, 2010) – For the second year in a row, John Sampson, president and CEO of Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership (NEIRP), will join Governor Mitch Daniels on an economic development trade mission to Asia.
A delegation made up of Hoosier business leaders and elected officials will travel through China from Nov. 7 to 13 and visit Japan from Nov. 14 to 17.
“Foreign trade missions are important to both our region and the state,” Sampson said. “In Northeast Indiana alone, we have over 50 international companies doing business, including eight with ties to Japan.”
The trips to Japan and China are essential to building relationships as more than 42,000 Hoosiers are employed by more than 200 Japanese companies in the state. Those companies have investments in the state of more than $9.8 billion.
“These trips allow us the chance to put a face on Northeast Indiana for foreign corporations with an interest in doing business in the U.S.,” Sampson said. “By developing long-term relationships through repeated visits, we can demonstrate what business success looks like in our region. The more they see that success, the better than can see themselves doing business here.”
The growing global economy shifts competition from neighbors to foreign companies, while forcing states and regions to look beyond their borders for a competitive advantage. Northeast Indiana has logged six foreign trade missions in the five years since its inception. Sampson’s upcoming trip will be coordinated with another NEIRP foreign trade mission: Dale Buuck, director of business development, will travel to Europe. In Europe, Buuck will focus on manufacturing, engineering, defense and aerospace, and the medical device industries in the United Kingdom and Germany.
About the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership: Created in 2006, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership’s mission is to market the 10-county region and team with local economic development organizations (LEDOs) to bring new jobs and commercial investment to the area. The Partnership concluded a successful Investment campaign in October of 2006 targeting an initial operating period of five years. The RP’s global marketing efforts will be on behalf of LEDO’s in Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley counties. www.chooseneindiana.com
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