This is an excerpt from a column posted at BizOpinion.
Louis Ho, the director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s seven offices in North and South America, freely admits he didn’t know that much about Wisconsin until a recent visit to Minnesota’s Twin Cities persuaded him to look across the border.
The New York-based Ho is glad he made the return trip.
Wisconsin expertise in water technologies, aerospace, biotechnology, information technology and energy found its way on to Ho’s itinerary during a mid-October trip to Wisconsin, during which he and others from the trade council met with company and tech sector representatives in Milwaukee, Madison and the Fox Valley.
Their message: Wisconsin companies with research, production or logistical needs in Asia should look to Hong Kong as a secure, cost-effective and relatively “red-tape-free” portal into emerging markets in China and the Pacific Rim.
Trade representatives from other nations boast competing messages, of course, but the larger point is that Wisconsin is steadily improving its standing in the global marketplace of trade and foreign direct investment.
