By Corey Williams
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) -- Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and more than two-dozen business leaders spent nine days wooing companies in China, planting seeds that could sprout into much-needed Michigan jobs.
It was Ficano's sixth trade mission. His seventh trip will come in 2011 when he and the delegation returns to China to nurture contacts made this year.
From the governor's office to the county level and now to Detroit City Hall, elected and business leaders are spending time oversees -- to bring jobs back home. Gov. Jennifer Granholm returned last month from a weeklong trade mission to France and Sweden.
A delegation from Wayne County recently returned after nine days with Ficano in China. Mayor Dave Bing also was scheduled back in Detroit following a week in Italy.
Private money paid for the costly trips, putting no strain on county and city budgets, or pinching taxpayers for the cost.
"It's building relationships," Ficano said. "You can win in two ways. You bring work back over -- you produce jobs. Companies, many times, get contracts to do the work in Michigan and hire people in Michigan."
A 2009 mission to China bore fruit this fall with a Chinese manufacturer's plans to open a research and development center next year in Plymouth, west of Detroit. The investment by ChangAn Automotive will bring 100 engineering jobs and put the company closer to Ford Motor Co., one of its clients.
"It's a business of patience and long-term commitment," said Birgit Klohs, president and chief executive of The Right Place, Inc., a private-public partnership for economic development in the Grand Rapids area.
"You do not go to China once and expect they all will come," Klohs said. "You have to be consistently building relationships and eventually the projects will come."
Klohs said she and a delegation of business and community leaders make about three overseas trips each year. This year, they were in Germany and Spain.
More than 70 foreign companies are doing business in west Michigan, bringing about 4,000 jobs to the region, Klohs said.
Despite one of the worst economies in the nation and an unemployment rate higher than that in most states, foreign businesses are focusing on Michigan's strengths, Klohs said.
"Even during the last years of difficulty in this state, we still get companies to come here," she said. "We have a good labor force, outstanding engineering talent and quality universities."
Ficano said the trade missions he's been a part of have helped bring about 40 companies to the state and southeast Michigan and "probably well over 1,000 jobs."
While in Turin, Bing and officials with Fiat discussed partnerships related to the Italian automaker's presence in North America, mayoral spokesman Dan Lijana said.
"He is looking at Turin, specifically, because in many ways it's similar to Detroit; in population, history and challenges," Lijana said. "The mayor is taking a look at how their revitalization is already well under way."
Earlier this month, Granholm said in a weekly radio address that 12 overseas missions she's taken since 2004 have resulted in investments of nearly $2 billion into the state, and 20,000 new and retained jobs.
Granholm, a Democrat who couldn't seek re-election due to Michigan's term limits law, most recently visited South Korea.
South Korea's LG Chem plans to build a new electrolyte production plant in Holland, near its $303 million battery cell plant. The company is supplying the battery for the new Chevrolet Volt.
Companies in South Korea, China and India are becoming large enough to have a presence in North America, Klohs said.
"India and China are the hotspots," she said. "We're looking for them to build engineering offices here and eventually plants. You have to have countries that have robust economies that need another continent to supply their customers."
Published: Wed, Nov 24, 2010
