La. pols casting 'broad net' in London

La. pols casting 'broad net' in London

	Published : Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:02 By : Agencies Print this Story

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Though she listed no commitments from companies, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said her economic development trip to London was developing important industry contacts and marketing Louisiana to international interests.

'We are throwing a broad net out to capture any type of activities that are out there,' Blanco said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters.

The governor is on a four-day trip to promote state business incentives, including tax breaks offered after hurricanes Katrina and Rita through the federal Gulf Opportunity Zone Act.

She is scheduled to return to Louisiana on Wednesday. On the trip with Blanco are her husband, chief of staff Jimmy Clarke, Economic Development Secretary Michael Olivier, other economic development officials and private business leaders.

Blanco said the trip started from an invitation by three members of Parliament who began a 'Friends of Louisiana' organization after the 2005 hurricanes.

'They asked us to bring in a team of business people to create a dialogue of opportunities,' she said.

Louisiana officials in London were marketing areas around the state, including a large tract of land in Richland Parish in north Louisiana that the state bought to attract a manufacturing facility, Blanco said.

She refused to talk about specific companies the state was attempting to woo, but she said Louisiana officials were pitching opportunities for manufacturing, construction work, import/export businesses, auto assembly operations and technology industries paired with universities.

When asked about the 2005 hurricanes, Blanco said British officials have been interested in getting firsthand information about recovery efforts.

'People are very, very grateful when we explain to them that New Orleans is not underwater ... They want to hear that we are on our way to recovery, that we have done some very important things to stand ourselves up,' she said.

She added, 'I don't sugarcoat anything, by the way. I tell them that there is an enormous amount of work left to be done and, in fact, that work can present an enormous number of opportunities.'