CL – Trade: State must compete for China market
Gov. Haley Barbour and Mississippi Development Authority executive director Gray Swoope were wise to put the state’s economic development machine squarely behind efforts to increase state trade with China, the world’s largest market.
Business leaders from Mississippi and the city of Changzhou – a major city in eastern China – met Thursday at the Jackson Convention Complex in hopes of building on an already growing relationship. The event was co-hosted by the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce and the Changzhou Municipal Government.
“There are certainly great prospects for (cooperation between) Changzhou and Mississippi,” said the city’s vice mayor, Han Jiuyun, through an interpreter.
China and Mississippi already have a successful business partnership, with the state exporting everything from wood products to electronics equipment and China sending parts for various products to be assembled and refined in the state.
Establishing such partnerships has been and will be key if Mississippi’s economy is to keep growing, said Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. “Part of that success has been in trade, exports, in particular,” Swoope said. “We forget it’s a two-way street. We export to China. Mississippi is a global player, and we can compete.”
China trails only Canada and Mexico in terms of goods sent from Mississippi. Last year, almost $380 million worth of goods were exported to China, according to MDA, up from about $350 million in 2007.
Clarion-Ledger
5/26/9
Magnolia Tribune
