September 3 , 2007
Dear Fellow Nebraskans:
I write this week as I prepare to leave for the sixth trade mission of my administration, which includes stops in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan.
This trade mission presents a great opportunity to explore agriculture and business development efforts in several important Asian markets. Japan and China are particularly valuable export markets for Nebraska.
Japan is currently the third largest international market for Nebraska, with exports of ag and all other products totaling $226 million in 2006. China is one of Nebraska’s fastest growing markets, having more than doubled in value during the last five years. Combined exports totaled nearly $181 million last year, up from $68 million in 2001.
Taiwan represents a nearly $65 million export market for Nebraska, while combined exports to Hong Kong totaled nearly $37 million in 2006.
The delegation is the largest ever assembled for a Nebraska international trade mission, with a total of 66 delegates joining me for this visit. I’m being joined by several of our top trade and business promotion representatives from the Departments of Agriculture and Economic Development.
This diverse group also includes representatives from Nebraska’s agriculture industry including beef, corn, soybean and wheat producers, along with economic development professionals from several Nebraska communities and representatives from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, agribusiness leaders, and other Nebraska companies.
This visit allows us to spend some quality time exploring opportunities for new exports and promoting Nebraska as an excellent place to do business.
The first stop is in China, where we will visit Shanghai, one of the country’s largest commercial and industrial cities, before traveling onto Hong Kong and Macau. Shanghai is one of China’s preeminent industrial cities and we plan to visit one of China’s leading medical universities during our visit. We’ll also take some time to allow several of our companies who are veterans of international trade to share their experience and insight with newer companies looking to get into the global game.
While in Japan participate in the annual Midwest U.S. Japan Association Conference and visit The Nebraska Center, the state’s first foreign trade office, located in downtown Tokyo. I look forward to introducing our business representatives joining us on this trip to the resources we have available to assist them, thanks to our full-time presence in Japan at The Nebraska Center.
We expect this visit to be a very productive one, and I encourage anyone with an interest in international trade to keep-up with our activities throughout the trip, by visiting the Governor’s Office Web site at http://www.gov.state.ne.us.
This trade mission will provide opportunities to meet with government officials, potential trading partners and foreign investors who’ve expressed an interest in doing business in the state. We look forward to exploring the many possibilities this visit will create with the hope of continuing to advance Nebraska’s stake in the area of global trade.
