Gov. Brian Kemp has a unique pitch for the business chiefs and political power brokers he aims to woo this week at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.
“It’s really about the Georgia way. We let the market work, then go after innovative companies,” he said in an interview Tuesday from the annual gathering of billionaire financiers, corporate executives and global heads of state.
It’s Kemp’s second consecutive trip to what he sees as a “one-stop shop” to recruit Georgia businesses and promote his red-state embrace of green energy projects.
Already, he’s met with executives from Corvaglia, a beverage supplier, and Stadler, a Swiss railway manufacturer. He sat down with Hyundai executives about their plans for the $7.6 billion Metaplant in southeast Georgia.
And he was set to host a low-key reception for dozens of executives on Wednesday that he hoped would contrast with the swanky events at the upscale restaurants that line the streets of the ski resort.
“It’s like shooting fish in a barrel,” Kemp said. “It’s a great use of our time to sell our state, and it saved us some overseas travel last year.”
Credit: Markus Schreiber/AP
Credit: Markus Schreiber/AP
The visit could come with political blowback. Many of Kemp’s fellow Republicans regard the conference as a symbol of out-of-touch elitism, something Kemp readily acknowledges.
“Look, there’s a lot of global elitists here. There’s no doubt,” Kemp said. “But I’m also taking our message of why we think our ideas are better and selling them to the business leaders here.”
His schedule also includes participation in a discussion on the state’s electric-vehicle boom, one that has benefited from federal clean energy tax incentive legislation that Kemp and other Republicans have opposed.
“This law has passed, and now people have to decide if they’re going to come to a state, which state are they going to go to?” Kemp said. “We’re trying to make the argument that we’re the best state to go to because of our conservative principles.”
As one of the only Republican officials at the weeklong event, Kemp said he hopes to “fight the good fight” for conservative causes on the global stage.
“I don’t think I’m going to be changing the global elites’ minds on things they may want to do,” he said. “But a lot of the business people here from all over the world want to know what we have to offer in Georgia.”
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