By Mike Rosa, Senior Vice President, Economic Development
This year has featured two international economic development missions for the Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC). Both January and July saw me join Governor Greg Abbott on week-long missions abroad, first to India, then to Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.
These trips were each assembled by the Texas Economic Development Corporation (TxEDC), a privately funded marketing organization led by President and CEO Aaron Demerson, of which the DRC is a member—made possible by our Tomorrow Fund investors.
Governor Abbott and Secretary of State Jane Nelson led both the India mission and East Asia trip, during which we were joined by First Lady Cecilia Abbott. In India, we visited Mumbai and New Delhi. Our East Asia trek began in Taipei, then Seoul, before ending in Japan with stops in Nagoya and Tokyo. In East Asia, we were joined by DRC allies from Fort Worth, Irving, McKinney, and more. On both missions, we spent our days meeting with major companies and business organizations.
A snapshot of our travels.
The agenda for the East Asia mission in July was fully loaded and fast-paced. We would land in the country and shuttle straight to the first meeting while a herd of luggage took a different bus to the hotel to wait for us.
The trip’s theme was relationship-building. It featured the opening of the State of Texas office in Taiwan and meetings with significant companies and prominent business organizations, including those with new offices in our region.
I especially enjoyed visiting the home of Toyota in Nagoya. Ten years later, the announcement of Toyota’s North American headquarters move to Plano remains incredibly special to the DRC.
Gov. Abbott was remarkable in representing the State of Texas at every meeting, each time with remarks tailored to those present. As I headed for rest at the end of each long day, I knew the Governor was just beginning a double shift on Texas time to deal with issues back home.
Taking a selective approach to international missions.
Lately, when the DRC travels internationally, we’ve been joining TxEDC trips, including the two this year and a fall 2022 mission to Europe. The well-planned trips create opportunities for corporate location and expansion into our region. However, these are not our only forms of international effort.
Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport has led trips joined by the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth (the two co-owner cities of the airport), the DRC, and others focusing on air service development and incorporating economic development and tourism. Bombardier Recreational Products (makers of Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo, Can-Am, and other popular equipment) established its headquarters in Plano after first engaging the DRC on a DFW Airport mission to Canada.
The DRC has built its own trips, joined by regional communities and other strategic partners. On one, we met with Louis Vuitton in France, a decisive step before the company selected our region for a major new facility.
Less often, we attend international conferences or travel outside of the U.S. to meet one specific company actively considering our region.
We are economic development-minded when traveling internationally and focus on one or more of these priorities:
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- Supporting new and existing international direct flights to open gateways to the world.
- Developing international corporate location opportunities—we only join or build trips where we have an opportunity for success and where corporate or trade ties with DFW and Texas already exist. For example, the DRC has multiple active location projects with companies from each of the three countries visited on the July trip.
- Representing the DFW region and the DRC’s brand – leading or showing up when DRC members, the Governor, or our state and regional allies need and expect us.
- Supporting new and existing consulates and trade offices.
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We do not join or build missions strictly for cultural exchange, tourism, or business-to-business matchmaking.
International trips help the DRC build its domestic agenda.
The two trips I’ve taken this year inspire some work ahead of the DRC. In 2025, we will update our data, information, and presentations on DFW’s international corporate base, global trade, and assets for international corporate locations.
We will also freshen a 2016 DRC internal study that used multiple variables to determine the countries and companies that offer the most opportunity for corporate locations in our region—in other words, where we go and who we meet.
In 2016, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Canada, and Germany ranked in the top five. Much has changed in just eight years, so we will verify and reorder the countries where our energy is best spent in 2025 and beyond.
These updates will guide us to effectively join international missions and build DRC-led missions with our regional allies and partners in 2025 and beyond.
To learn more about the DRC’s work in Prosperity & Economic Development, visit our website.