Spokane city leaders on a mission for money – Trade missions headed for Ireland, Japan and South Korea this fall could help turn sisters into business partners.

Delegation’s trips abroad could go a long way to drum up business from important foreign markets, writes Bert Caldwell.

They will also set the stage for one of the more important international events to be held in Spokane in many years, a meeting of the Sister Cities International Conference scheduled for July 2005. Nothing since Expo ’74 has presented so grand an occasion to showcase the area’s quality of life and business opportunities. About 1,200 delegates, 30 percent from outside the United States, are expected to attend.

Bert Caldwell
The Spokesman-Review

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/business-news-story.asp?date=053004&ID=s1524333&cat=section.business

But that’s 13 months away. The trade missions are more imminent, and present their own opportunities. Japan purchased $5.4 billion in Washington goods and services in 2003, putting it atop the list of importers. Korea, ranked eighth, had Washington imports worth $1.7 billion. Ireland was a surprising 11th, with purchases valued at $843 million, a one-third increase over 2002. Ireland’s economy has been among Western Europe’s most dynamic over the past decade, and the list of U.S. firms with operations there includes Intel, Pfizer and Microsoft.

Spokane Mayor Jim West will lead a delegation to Limerick, Ireland, in September and another to Nishinomiya City, Japan, and Jecheon, South Korea, in October. There has been no formal Spokane trade mission to any of these cities since 1996, although there have been friendship missions.

“Getting the mayor is a very important piece,” says Roberta Brooke, executive director of the International Trade Alliance. Some Sister Cities take offense if a delegation does not include a city’s chief executive, she says.

Brooke says the host cities will determine the business agendas except in Dublin, where ITA will make arrangements. The alliance will also help set up one-on-one meetings for businesses that want to sit down with potential trading partners.

“We can help open doors and create networking opportunities for companies looking to grow business in foreign markets,” Brooke says.

The visits will resuscitate relationships that have been neglected despite good intentions. Of the three, that with Nishinomiya is the oldest, and has clearly been the most rewarding economically and culturally. Creation in 1990 of the Mukogawa-Ft. Wright Institute at the former military post has brought thousands of young Japanese women to Spokane over the last 14 years. They put $4 million into the local economy each year. In addition to Nishinomiya, the mission will stop at nearby Kobe.

In Korea, delegates will visit Seoul as well as Jecheon, a Sister City since 1999. Most of the exchanges so far between Spokane and Jecheon have been informal. But several Korean polytechnical schools have sent professors to Spokane Community College to observe the Spokane school’s methods of teaching heating and air-conditioning skills. The Koreans rely more on lectures, SCC more on hands-on teaching, says Norm Thorpe, who once covered Korea for the Asian Wall Street Journal. Hyunki Thorpe, his wife, is president of the Spokane-Jecheon Sister City Association.

“This is a growing relationship,” Thorpe says. “We’re hopeful as a result of these exchanges real business opportunities will result.”

Limerick might have a model for the economic engine local leaders hope to build around Spokane’s budding University District. Its National Technological Park wraps around the University of Limerick and Innovation Works Limerick, described as “an integrated system for incubating and growing knowledge-based high potential companies.” Vistakon, the eye care division of Johnson & Johnson, is a tenant.

The benefits from trade missions can be hard and soft, says Larry Williams, assistant director of the International Trade Division in the Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.

Businesses that accompanied Gov. Gary Locke on a mission to China last fall reported $1.3 million in spot sales, with the possibility for another $46 million over the next year. They also had the chance to meet with potential distributors or sales representatives.

“It helps put our state on the map,” he says. “It gives us a chance to tell our story.”

Steve Helmbrecht, vice president for international sales at Itron Inc., just returned from a mission in Taiwan. He says he was very impressed by the caliber of the people organizers rallied, and the quality of the goodwill generated. He expects the same benefits from the fall trips to Ireland, Japan and Korea.

“That’s a huge opportunity to really showcase Spokane,” Helmbrecht says.

Brooke says the ITA has made pre-commitments for airline flights at group rates for 20 delegates on each trip. “It’s the closest thing I’ve ever done to gambling,” she says.

This does not sound like a gamble. It sounds like a sure thing for Spokane. To find out more, an orientation meeting for both trips is scheduled for 6 p.m., June 9, at the Spokane Regional Business Center, 801 W. Riverside. Go.