Before he heads off on his next mission trip to Japan, Governor Rick Scott is touting the successes of his most recent trade delegation to Chile.
Scott just finished a three-day trade mission trip to Chile, Florida’s seventh largest trade partner. While on the trip, he made several announcements, including that the South American hotel group, Atton Hotels, will expand its operations in Miami. He also touted an international partnership between Florida-based Advanced Magnet Lab and Chilean groups to work on energy efficiency projects.
“I’m a businessman by training and this is my first time in public office and my success has been tied to the ability to build relationships with individuals around the world. So, this is a great day for Florida, and a great company for Floridians. It’s a great day for Floridians and I hope it’s a great day for everybody in Chile,” said Scott.
Scott Monday also talked about what he says helped lead to successful partnerships between the state and Chilean companies.
“You just build relationships. You help companies in Florida expand here. But, you help people come from other countries and do business here. One example, the Chile trip was Crystal Lagoon, which is going to have their worldwide headquarters right here in South Florida. So, I think we’re making things happen by helping companies build relationships,” Scott added.
Scott is also scheduled to go to Japan sometime in the fall. The trips are organized by Enterprise Florida, the state’s lead economic development agency. Its President Gray Swoope says unlike Scott’s last trip to Chile, this next trip to Japan will not focus on trade. Instead, the trip is aimed at business development.
“You look all over the Southeast or part of the United States. There’s significant foreign-direct investment from Japan in a lot of the Southeastern states. And, the way it’s done is building relationships, being aggressive, attracting companies from Japan to invest in our state. Certainly, we have a great presence here, and we want to continue to build on that relationship,” said Swoope.
As far as international companies, Japan has the fourth largest number of employees of foreign-direct investment in the state of Florida.
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