September 22, 2008
Dear Fellow Nebraskans:
I wanted to provide an update on the results of one of our major development activities aimed at attracting new investment to Nebraska. More than 130 guests from 10 countries joined us recently for Nebraska’s first reverse trade mission. It drew business and government leaders from Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, Canada, Spain, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. ( Photos).
Many of our guests spent four days participating in one-on-one business meetings, panel discussions and networking opportunities with academic leaders and researchers. I had several opportunities to address attendees and the message I shared with them was that Nebraska is the right place to pursue new opportunities.
We have lowered taxes three years in a row. We expanded Nebraska’s economic incentive programs. The impact of that is evident in a 2007 survey of state business indexes that rated Nebraska as having the third lowest cost of doing business in the U.S. Our state is ranked among the top five in terms of quality of life and education climate.
Those tracking new economy jobs and businesses creating jobs in innovation and technology have recognized Nebraska as the national leader in what’s known as gazelle jobs. These are jobs with companies growing by at least 20 percent for more than four years in a row.
The gazelle jobs ranking demonstrates that many Nebraskans are working for companies that are succeeding and growing. More importantly, these companies are achieving consistent growth year after year.
For many of those participating in this event, this was their first visit to Nebraska. In addition to providing opportunities for guests to interact with Nebraska business leaders, they visited many of the businesses responsible for our growing economy during the past several years.
We arranged tours of some of our fastest growing industries, such as renewable energy production where guests visited a wind turbine manufacturer, a pilot cellulosic ethanol facility and a corn-based ethanol plant, which uses new technology to produce a range of products in addition to ethanol. Other tours included visits to several of the University of Nebraska’s research facilities, the Omaha Foreign Trade Zone and more than a dozen prominent Nebraska businesses.
This event gave us several strong leads of companies looking to invest in the U.S. Five business leaders from China pledged to cooperate with our economic development team during the next year and we are hoping to recruit them here to Nebraska.
There are several Chinese companies interested in building facilities to produce or distribute goods here in the United States. Two other businesses are connected to agriculture and food processing, which is one of Nebraska’s largest export categories. One company distributes commodities in eastern China, while the other produces frozen foods for export to China.
In addition, representatives of a Nebraska-based manufacturing company and a Beijing high-tech start-up announced a partnership to produce renewable energy using geothermal technology.
We received an enthusiastic response from the guests participating in the reverse trade mission. It was a busy and productive week that helped Nebraska establish new relationships in hopes of expanding our export and trade opportunities in the years to come.
