Courting international business and investment is one of Governor Jack Markell’s (D) major priorities as the state seeks to speed up its economic recovery.
In his 2011 State of the State address, Markell pointed out that some of Delaware top economic players, AstraZenca, Barclays, and ING are already global companies.
“They regularly ask themselves, ‘Where should we invest our next dollar of capital and create the next job?’ We must do all we can to make the answer ‘Delaware’,” said Markell in his address to the General Assembly last month.
Delaware had nearly $5 billion in exports in 2010 according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. In addition to cementing those existing relationships, Markell and his administration are now focusing on forging new alliances and expanding trade opportunities.
“Our job is ultimately to create jobs in our state, so we are always looking to promote [Delaware] in South America, Asia and throughout the world, whether it’s through tourism, networking at various trade shows, attracting investors or other avenues,” says Delaware’s Director of International Trade, John Pastor.
Creating a more competitive Delaware
Pastor says Delaware has some competitive advantages over other states: ease of incorporation, competitive cost of doing business, and a more direct line of communication with decision makers.
“We want to know if there’s a problem so we can resolve the problem,” Pastor says. “It’s vital that a company can reach the right people when they need them.”
State Deputy Director of International Trade and Development David Mathe agrees leveraging Delaware’s competitive advantages is critical.
“Competition is fierce in trying to land that foreign direct investment, so it’s a real challenge. For a small state like Delaware we have to be nimble, which is one of our advantages when competing with our regional neighbors,” said Mathe.
Markell is also working to make the state friendlier to international business by fostering a greater understanding of other nations’ protocol for conducting business and emphasizing the need for Delaware students to learn multiple languages to create a workforce prepared to operate internationally.
Markell’s international seed sowing has yielded at least one fruit: a new agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA) signed last month aimed at breaking down barriers to Chinese investment to Delaware. The cooperative agreement comes on the heels of Governor Markell’s November visit to China.
Making the case for Delaware
Some companies already operating in Delaware are stepping up to help Delaware make its case to international businesses, based on their experiences in the First State.
New Castle based Auto Port, Inc. primarily services the Middle East and West Africa markets with vehicle conversions and modifications for civilian, corporate and military applications. Its president, Roy Kirchner, stressed access and convenience as reasons his company set up shop in Delaware.
“General Motors was exporting product out of the Port of Wilmington in the mid-1970s. In the 1980s, GM wanted a third party provider to do vehicle inspections prior to export to a specific market and hence our existence,” said Kircher.
“It’s all about putting people to work,” said Governor Markell. “When we help Delaware companies export overseas, when we help Delaware companies find investors from overseas and have goods come through the Port of Wilmington, it’s all good.”
“In our case, the facilities and services offered through the Port of Wilmington are first class and it’s a great point of distribution for the whole northeast and the central part of the United States,” said Ricardo Maldonado, Executive Director of the Chilean and American Chamber of Commerce.
According to Maldonado, Chilean produce has been entering the US through ports along the Delaware River for the past thirty years, and the Port of Wilmington has become a key entry point over the last twelve years.
“Last year, the Port of Wilmington received eleven million cases of produce during the winter season and this provided more than 800 direct jobs and close to 2 thousand indirect jobs,” Maldonado observes.
Maldonado recently organized a first of its kind international business networking reception at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington. Maldonado said Chile and other countries in the international trade community are seeking to create a collective voice that promotes Delaware and the Port of Wilmington as a good place to open a business, import products and export products.
University of Delaware international relations major Stuart Simon found the networking event at DCCA to be a real eye opener.
“What really impressed me the most was that state executives and international business executives were all on the same page with regard to expanding business in the state of Delaware,” said Simon.
Networking, sharing long range visions for business growth, and recognizing trade opportunities early on will continue to be key for the Markell administration to position Delaware as a leader in the international trade marketplace, according to Mathe.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work with area colleges and universities and have been putting a lot of emphasis on research,” states Mathe. “ What we’ve been finding is that as technology develops and international collaboration occurs, companies emerge. When that happens, we want those companies to consider locating in Delaware, first.”
