NCI chief promotes foreign direct investment in region

Working with 30 other Team Illinois representatives, Ivan Baker represented North Central Illinois in promoting new foreign direct investment at the recent SelectUSA Summit in Washington, D.C.

North Central Illinois is a primary Team Illinois sponsor of the Intersect Illinois promotional program at Select USA. This year, Baker met with corporate executives from Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Colombia, Israel, Italy, Japan and France. Team Illinois personally coordinated personal meetings with more than 100 executives from throughout the world.

This fifth annual SelectUSA Investment Summit is the highest-profile event dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States, and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce. More than 1,200 business representatives from 66 foreign markets met with economic developers from 51 states and U.S. territories.

Over the past 5 years, nearly $93 million in new investment projects, supporting 140,000 American jobs, have resulted from the initial meetings at SelectUSA Summits.

“Select USA is an important promotional effort for us to encourage Foreign Direct Investment,” Baker said. “Importantly, we are meeting with executives who have projects, and want to make investments in the United States.”

The region already boasts the investment by 62 foreign-owned manufacturers, and Illinois is the fifth largest foreign direct investment state in the U.S.

“We have major advantages for many manufacturers,” Baker said, “and we must nurture relationships with corporate executives to encourage job creation in North Central Illinois.”