Leader of state to visit nations

Meetings set with India, UAE firms

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is departing Saturday on an economic development trip that will include visits to the United Arab Emirates and India next week, he announced Monday.

The United Arab Emirates is on the southeast side of the Arabian Peninsula.

During a news conference in the governor's office, Hutchinson said the trip will be his first to the UAE and India to promote economic development in Arkansas.

The Republican governor said he will meet with numerous companies on the trip.

He said he will support Welspun Tubular LLC, an Indian-backed company that he called "a great Little Rock, central Arkansas company," while he is in India. He also plans to meet with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations and the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.

"Both India and the United Arab Emirates are ripe for potential investments in Arkansas," state Department of Commerce Secretary Mike Preston said in a written statement Monday afternoon.

"We will be working on our relationships with partners like Welspun and meeting with other companies and officials who are receptive to establishing business in Arkansas," he said.

Welspun Tubular LLC, a subsidiary of Welspun Corp., opened on a 740-acre site in the Port of Little Rock in 2009 and has acquired a 44-acre site for $4.5 million. Welspun employs "well over 900" people," based on the latest numbers the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce has, according to Jay Chesshir, the chamber's president and chief executive officer. The Little Rock plant is capable of producing 350,000 net tons of welded pipes a year, according to the Welspun Corp. website.

The governor will be accompanied by Preston and three others, according to Brandi Hinkle, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, which is part of the Department of Commerce.

The others are the governor's deputy chief of staff of external operations, Bill Gossage; Arkansas State Police Lt. Jeff Long; and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission director of Asia and Japan, Neal Jansen, who is based in Tokyo.

The state's contingent will be in Dubai in the UAE on Sunday and Monday and then in Mumbai, India, from Oct. 1-4, Hinkle said.

Hinkle said the state's estimated cost for the trip is $19,192, and the nonprofit Arkansas Economic Development Foundation also will pay part of the cost. She said she didn't have information about what the foundation's share will be.

Arkansas exported $43.6 million in products to India in 2018, while it imported $251.6 million in products from India that year, according to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

In 2018, Arkansas exported $30.6 million in products to the UAE, while the state imported $1.1 million in products from the UAE, according to the commission.

The trip to the UAE and India will be the governor's latest journey overseas for economic development purposes. In June, the governor attended the Paris Air Show as part of a European trade mission to France, Germany, Switzerland and Czech Republic.

Information for this article was contributed by Noel Oman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Business on 09/24/2019

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