Nebraska building relationships for global investment

Nebraska is the first state to make detailed business development presentations to the Chinese cities of Xi’an and Hangzhou. More than 300 Chinese attended the sessions in Xi’an (pronounced SHE-ahn), which has a population of 2.7 million, and in Hangzhou (pronounced HANGH-joe), with 6.4 million residents, said Joe Chapuran, international development manager for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. The stops at the two cities were highlights of six Nebraskans’ recent 18-day trade mission to China and Japan, aimed at finding new business relationships and enhancing existing commercial connections between Nebraska and the two Asian giants.

Also on the trip were representatives from the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Nebraska Public Power District, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Werner Enterprises and JZW International, a trade firm. Many of the discussions centered on farming. Manufacturing, distribution, importing and exporting were big topics, too, said Marisa Ring, international business developer for the Omaha chamber.

“We were answering questions about work force, on incentives, on operating environments, about the full scope of questions you get when someone is seriously evaluating an opportunity,” Ring said.

In Japan, the group visited Kobe, Saitama, Shizuoka and Tokyo, mostly for individual talks with business contacts built up over years of commerce between Japan and Nebraska. By being first in the two Chinese cities, Chapuran said, Nebraska’s economic developers hope to compete with larger states that have more resources to focus on foreign trade. The Nebraska group was also promoting the state’s first “reverse trade mission,” Sept. 10-12, which is expected to draw 100 or more business officials from Brazil, China, Japan, Germany and other countries.

Currently, there are 350 oreign-owned businesses in Nebraska, with 19,000 employees.