By Brian E. Clark
WisBusiness.com
Wisconsin’s peripatetic governor, who visited Great Britain and Ireland on a business trip last month, is headed for the subcontinent.
Speaking at the Wisconsin International Trade Conference in Milwaukee today, Gov. Jim Doyle said he will lead a trade mission to India sometime in November. Doyle said while exports grew a healthy 11 percent overall last year, shipments to India’s rapidly expanding economy grew by 29 percent.
Doyle has been on at least seven trade missions during his two terms. He called the upcoming visit to India “an outstanding opportunity for Wisconsin companies to meet the customers and business leaders that will help them build their sales in these important markets.
“It’s a good thing if a Wisconsin company finds a strong partner in a rapidly growing country like India and creates jobs in Wisconsin through exports,” he added.
Doyle’s office said the governor will be probably be accompanied by Commerce Secretary Jack Fischer, whose department is planning the trip. Dates and details are still being worked out on how the trade mission will be financed, but on past business trips company officials who traveled with Doyle covered his costs. That lead to some criticism that executives were buying his time, a charge Doyle rejected.
On a trade mission to Mexico several years ago, about 30 business leaders, many of whom scheduled their own meetings with potential partners, paid about $3,000 to take part in the trip. Presumably, this mission to India will be more expensive.
See release: http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=126014
