Governor Jack Markell discusses Delaware’s role in attracting and building relations with Asian business markets, most specifically China.
Full text of Governor Jack Markell’s weekly message:
While 2011 is well underway, more than a billion people are celebrating Chinese New Year globally, with some right here in Delaware.
I’m looking forward to joining our Chinese-American community, which has contributed so much to our cultural, economic and—of course—culinary life here in Delaware.
One of our own New Year’s resolutions was to help make connections between some of our great homegrown companies and investors from abroad.
In a country like China, there are opportunities for Delaware exporters to tap into one of the world’s fastest growing markets. China is Delaware’s fourth largest export destination, reaching 298 million dollars in 2009, up 4.8% from 2008—despite the recession—and an incredible 162% from 2005.
There are also opportunities to attract international investors—along with jobs— to our state. We already have great international employers here—AstraZeneca, Barclays, ING, Evraz, Bilcare, Siemens and Motech are all headquartered overseas.
As Asian companies look to invest in the American market, we want them to think of Delaware first.
Our world-renowned legal system, our location in the heart of the East Coast, our accessible government, our strong sense of community, and our high quality of life make our state the ideal gateway to the United States.
We’ve been working hard to make this happen. During Chinese President Hu’s recent visit, we signed an agreement with China’s Investment Promotion Agency to work together to bring investors to Delaware. The next day, we took another step forward when more than 40 business representatives visited, eager to learn what Delaware has to offer. This effort will take time.
We must continuously work to promote our state and increase our competitiveness. And we must prepare our kids to take over the job…of creating jobs. Our kids are graduating into a global economy. They are no longer just competing with graduates from the next town over. They are competing with students across the world. But to compete, we must prepare them to forge partnerships internationally. To do that, our students need better language skills.
We are working with the Hanban Institute to bring teachers from China to Delaware, offering language courses at virtually no cost to us. We will also be offering a high-quality online language course in schools.
As we ring in the Year of the Rabbit, we need to be quicker and more nimble as we work together to keep Delaware…. moving forward.
