Alabama China Partnership Symposium Spring 2012

Join 300 senior executives, business leaders, government officials and community leaders from Alabama and China in a two-day symposium to discuss issues, learn from one another, network and set the agenda for the next phase of the Alabama China relationship and business exchange.

According to some estimates, 19.4% of the world’s manufactured goods come from the US, second to China, which makes 19.8%. While China -- with almost $4 Trillion in reserve -- has invested more than $200 Billion overseas in the past 5 years, only $28 Billion was invested in the US. This number is expected to jump significantly in the years to come.

Due to a multitude of factors – “rapidly rising labor rates abroad, loftier materials and shipping costs, deep-discount tax incentives from U.S. states” [1]- Chinese manufacturers are keen to invest overseas.  As trade barriers rise in the US, so will investment, especially for manufacturers selling to the North American market. International recruitment has paid dividends in Alabama in recent years; Alabama has been successful in attracting large blue chip manufacturers from Europe, Japan and Korea. Can Alabama again take the lead in brining top Chinese companies to the State?  Join us for a no holds barred debate; hear from top Chinese companies on their needs and plans for potential investment in the United States; and collaborate and participate in setting Alabama’s agenda, public and private, to recruit and work with these companies.

You will be inspired, challenged, entertained but most of all you will learn how your community or business can be part of the manufacturing renaissance that is predicted from combining the resources of the world’s two largest economies.  

[1] Bussey, John, “Analysis: Will Costs Drive Firms Home?” Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2011.