Mayor Supports Foreign Investment as Key to Job Growth - By Phil Bolton (Global Atlanta - 11/24/10)
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed gave a lively defense of foreign direct investment as a source of new jobs in the city and elsewhere in the state during a press conference at City Hall Nov. 22.
The press conference was called to announce the “France-Atlanta: 2010 Together Towards Innovation” initiative that is to feature a wide array of performances and symposiums encompassing the arts, business, education, humanitarian efforts, medicine and other sciences from Nov. 29-Dec. 6.
A question about the possibility of the French initiative resulting in jobs for Atlantans sparked the mayor’s defense of the city’s aspirations as an international center of commerce.
Citing the current state of the economy, he said that investment by overseas companies was an important source of new jobs, adding that he would be announcing in January two new foreign investments resulting from his recent visits to London and Amsterdam, Netherlands.
“I believe the future of Atlanta and the futures of great cities are to be global … global in scope, global in competitiveness, global in terms of the workforce,” he said.
Pascal Le Deunff, the France’s consul general based in Atlanta, said that 200 French companies already were responsible for 11,000 jobs in the Southeast and that he hoped the France-Atlanta initiative would result in more investment either directly or through partnerships.
The mayor also reiterated his desire to reopen the city’s international affairs office, which was closed 18 months ago due to budgetary constraints, by the end of the first quarter of next year.
“We’re either going to be an international city and be a world-class city or we’re not,” he said. “If we’re not we should not pretend to be and stop talking about it.”
Meanwhile, he added that he has spent much of his own time pursuing opportunities promoting the city internationally during the past 11 months since he assumed office.
He cited specifically his recent trips to Amsterdam where he attended a major air cargo show that is to be held in Atlanta in 2012 and London, which he visited with a delegation of Atlanta developers and educators.
He also cited his involvement with the Americas Competitiveness Forum, which attracted business leaders and civic officials from throughout the Western Hemisphere, and the U.S. State Department’s Experience America program, which brought ambassadors from Washington to visit Atlanta.