North Carolina delegation heading to Japan to drum up business

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is leading a state delegation to Japan next week to attend the Southeastern United States/Japan (SEUS/Japan) economic development conference in Tokyo.

The trip, from Oct. 11 to 15, aims to entice businesses to move to the state. The delegation will also meet with officials and business leaders.

“Japan is a highly valued economic partner for our state,” Cooper said. “It’s important to take this opportunity to strengthen our relationship with Japanese leaders and employers while laying the groundwork for our SEUS/Japan economic development conference in Charlotte next year.”

SEUS/Japan is the premier economic development partnership between eight states in the Southeast and Japan and home to 225 Japanese companies in the region. In North Carolina, almost 30,000 residents work at Japanese-owned firms.

Cooper is traveling with state officials including Secretary of Commerce Machelle Baker Sanders and Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina Executive Director Chris Chung.

In the past few years, firms including Toyota, HondaJet and Fujifilm have announced significant investments in North Carolina.

Cooper has made it a priority to bring good-paying jobs with Japanese firms in high-growth industries like aerospace, electric vehicles and biotech to the state. He first traveled to Japan in 2017 and was last there in May.

“On this trip, I will recruit new businesses with better-paying jobs for North Carolina, while having discussions with and personally encouraging industry leaders to attend our conference next year so they can see for themselves what our great state of North Carolina has to offer,” Cooper said.

North Carolina has gilt-edged credit, carrying triple-A ratings from Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.