Deval Patrick embarks on trade mission to Latin America with local business leaders
Courtesy of the Patrick administration.
Deval Patrick is leading another trade mission, this one to Panama and Mexico City.
Gov. Deval Patrick[5]’s upcoming trade mission to Latin America sprang from a new airline’s arrival at Logan Airport, and the governor is hoping it will end with another airline joining the crowd.
Patrick will start his trip Monday morning by traveling to Panama City on Copa Airlines, which started flying between Logan and Panama last year. Among the items on the governor’s to-do list for the weeklong trip: convincing another carrier to start offering direct flights between Boston and Mexico City.
A direct flight to Mexico City would be a major coup for Patrick, whose transportation team over at Massport has added several overseas carriers in the past few years. But that’s by no means the only thing Patrick wants to accomplish.
Patrick tells me that he had promised to make the trip to Panama after Copa decided to come to Boston — if there would be potential partners in the innovation sector on the other end who could meet with state officials and local business leaders. Patrick says both Mexico and Panama have those potential partners, in abundance.
“Our growth strategy is to invest in education, innovation and infrastructure,” Patrick says. “We’re interested in opening up new markets or strengthening existing ones in places where the growth strategy is similar to ours.”
Patrick’s entourage will include nearly 20 administration officials and business executives, along with the requisite staff support. A spokeswoman says the trip will cost the state no more than $80,000 — business executives pay their own way — compared to the (less than initially projected) $130,000 in state funds spent on Patrick’s trade mission to Asia in December[6]. There’s a particular emphasis on “clean tech” this time around, an umbrella label that includes execs on the trip like Desalitech CEO Nadav Efraty[7], Digital Lumens CEO Tom Pincince[8], and XL Hybrids President Tod Hynes[9].
References
- ^ Jon Chesto (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Twitter (twitter.com)
- ^ Google+ (plus.google.com)
- ^ Deval Patrick (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ on Patrick’s trade mission to Asia in December (www.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Nadav Efraty (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Tom Pincince (feeds.bizjournals.com)
- ^ Tod Hynes (feeds.bizjournals.com)