US invites industrialists from northern region

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 12

Ford Graham, Director, International Strategy and Trade, South Carolina (SC) Department of Commerce, USA, today  invited industry from the region to collaborate, invest, partner and build business ties with their counterparts in South Carolina, extending his state’s full support.

He was interacting with industrialists here at CII. Leading a seven-member delegation from South Carolina to Chandigarh to showcase his state’s strengths and it being an ideal investment destination for Indian companies, he emphasised that his government will service investors as an added employee as well. 

“We will assign a specific project manager to you who will handhold you right from the beginning concerning all aspects like land, labour, financing, source of raw material, marketing, legal formalities and transportation facilities etc,” he said.

“Our accessibility is so strong that one can access 70% of the USA from SC through shipping, road or railways,” Graham said, adding that 95% of their units are SMEs. 

“The key sectors where you can excel in South Carolina include automobile, aerospace, advanced materials/plastics/chemicals, IT & ITeS, pharmaceuticals, rubber, textiles, life sciences, distribution/logistics, agribusiness and consumer goods etc,” he said.

“Boeing’s and BMW’s leading manufacturing plants are in our state, so is the case of various top tyre manufacturers of the world like Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental etc. It is so easy to do business in South Carolina that 60% of the new investments in South Carolina are from the existing businesses in the form of expansion,” he added.