Kentucky's Economic Development Secretary says personal relationships further investments

Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Jeff Noel says there’s no replacement for personal relationships when it comes to seeking investment in the state. Noel was among the Kentucky delegation that spent last week in South Korea and Japan. He said there were many face-to-face meetings including 18 just in Japan.

“You tend to overlook how big they are, how innovative they are, and how important they are to their respective industries and those are exactly the kind of companies we want and those are exactly the kind of companies we have here in Kentucky,” said Noel.

Noel said exports and imports comprise a secret sauce to create global commerce…local and international relationships that facilitate global peace and cooperation. As far as Kentucky’s attractiveness to foreign firms, Noel said good tax policy is important but he added those companies are also interested in how those revenues are spent to further business success.

Noel said Toyota’s prior $1.3 billion dollar local investment in plant line conversion for electric vehicles and hybrids shows a lot.

“They’re already showing by where they’re making investments their confidence in that workforce and their confidence in kind of a diverse product mix moving forward, coming out of the Georgetown facility,” said Noel.

Noel noted employees and suppliers both benefit. And the cabinet secretary added Kentucky ranks number two in the U.S. in foreign direct investment from Japan.

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