Most of Georgia’s economic development heavyweights are with Gov. Nathan Deal in Brazil for his first trade mission since his re-election.
But the state has launched an extraordinary burst of globe-trotting travel elsewhere this week, with five different missions simultaneously scouting business opportunities in three continents.
There's a delegation led by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in Wolfsburg, Germany pitching auto parts suppliers at Volkswagen's Autostadt conference. A Georgia team is scouting for business at the Paris Air Show through Sunday.
Economic development operatives were dispatched to the BIO International Conference in Philadelphia until Thursday. And a state tourism guru is hopping from Milan to Amsterdam to Brussels to Paris this week on a sales mission.
There’s about a half-dozen economic development staffers coordinating Deal’s trip to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Campinas as well, setting up meetings with firms and site visits with trade delegations.
Members of Deal’s delegation on Monday huddled with Coca-Cola’s Brazilian chief, toured a high-tech innovation center on the outskirts of Rio and pitched the region’s governor on strengthening ties. They arrived in Sao Paulo on Tuesday to pitch an industry trade group on Georgia.
Chris Carr, Georgia's economic development commissioner, said he has particularly high hopes for Cagle's mission. Volkswagen's sprawling plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. hasn't yet spawned much spinoff business across the state line, and state officials are hopeful that a new VW supplier initiative can help woo more suppliers to Georgia's side of the border.
He called it a “piece of a larger global investment.”
“This is critically important. These aren’t one-offs,” said Carr. “We will go anywhere and everywhere to bring investment to Georgia.”
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