Commerce secretary in St. Louis Friday to talk exports
St. Louis Business Journal
September 23, 2010
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke will talk about the Obama administration's goal to double exports over the next five years during a World Trade Center luncheon Friday at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Clayton.
Missouri has experienced a 35 percent jump in exports over last year, Tim Nowak, executive director of the St. Louis World Trade Center, has said.
Local business leaders and elected officials who have pushed for more than two years to make Lambert-St. Louis International Airport a trade hub with China say they will know by the end of the year if it will happen.
Next month's visit from Chinese government and airline officials will make or break St. Louis' efforts to become a trade hub, Mike Jones, leader of the Midwest-China Hub Commission, said this month after returning from a week-long trip to Beijing and Shanghai earlier this month.
Meanwhile, across the Mississippi River in Illinois, a cargo test flight from China landed last month at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah.
Friday's program also will include an international trade year-in-review and awards ceremony honoring Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of Boeing's Hazelwood-based Defense, Space and Security business.
A reception will be from 11 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., followed by a program from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Each year, more than 600 business leaders representing small, medium-sized and multinational organizations attend this program.
