Oui oui: Kay Ivey to visit Paris Air Show on French trade mission

0
39
An aerial view of the 50th Paris Air Show, at the Le Bourget airport near Paris June 18, 2013.

Gov. Kay Ivey will visit France this week on a trade mission to highlight Alabama companies and (hopefully) bring more business to the state.

Ivey will attend the Paris Air Show — the world’s oldest and largest aerospace event, which begins Monday — Ivey will meet with global businesses, joined by delegations from across Alabama.

As the Alabama Political Reporter notes, meetings with delegations will be a combination of one-on-one and group settings.

“Recruiting new businesses to Alabama and encouraging the ones we already have to expand requires the building of meaningful relationships,” said Ivey press secretary Eileen Jones.

Attracting over 2,000 exhibitors from across the globe, the Paris Air Show will feature some Alabama and other U.S. companies.

“Governor Ivey will use her time in Paris to build a rapport with aerospace industry leaders so as to build a comfortable, working relationship with them,” Jones added. “These relationships have proven, in the past, to be key to landing important economic development projects in Alabama.”

Traveling with the governor will be Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield and Commerce Department Staff.

“Recruiting industry to our state takes great amounts of time and effort; a business doesn’t decide overnight to relocate to Alabama,” Jones told the Political Reporter.

One key Alabama project that came from the Paris Air Show was General Electric Co.’s Aviation additive manufacturing facility in Auburn, which started with talks that began at the 2013 event.

Ivey leaves Friday and returns Wednesday.