CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Governor Earl Ray Tomblin is ready to head to Europe on Thursday for a 13-day trade mission. He’ll spend time in five countries as part of an investment trip.
“It should be an exciting trip, especially for the polymer show that will be in Dusseldorf. It’s the world’s largest show of its kind. It only happens once every three years,” explained Tomblin.
The governor will be there promoting the state’s industry and he won’t be alone.
“There will be other West Virginians there with the booths hoping to either lure business or be able to do some exports overseas,” he said.
Tomblin will travel to Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and a private Turkey tour. The stop in France will be the first in an official capacity for a West Virginia governor.
He stressed he’ll spend part of that time with executives from companies already operating in West Virginia.
“Companies really appreciate, especially foreign companies, when a governor comes to visit them at their office and show the appreciation we have for their investments in the state of West Virginia.”
This isn’t the first trade mission for Tomblin. Last year he spent time in Asia.
“We were able to come back [from Japan] and announce more than a million dollars in new investments in West Virginia,” stressed Tomblin. “Hopefully we’ll be able to make some announcements when we come back from our European trip.”
State leaders estimate almost a third of West Virginia’s $11.3 billion in exports in 2012 went to Europe.