Formerly people might’ve thought of Alabama as a state in decline, Gilda said, but it has improved dramatically from its past, with all the elements a company seeks: strong transportation and broadband infrastructure, as well as a willing workforce. Others might also mention Alabama’s business-friendly regulatory environment and low taxes, particularly when the state fashions special incentives packages for investing companies. “They’re selling themselves extremely well,” Gilda said. “When they explain what they’re doing, it’s clear they’re interested in a long-term relationship. They’re aggressively pursuing business, but they’re doing it in a friendly way.” In Nevada, boosters are battling the mixed message from its own main city—the legendary reputation of Las Vegas and its wildly successful “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” marketing campaign. Alan DiStefano, director of global trade and investment for the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, has the task of persuading companies that other places in Nevada—the Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe areas, for example—are great places to bring families and businesses, far from the chaos and depravity of Sin City. In fact, most of the manufacturing and exporting in the state comes from within 90 miles of Reno, many deserts away. “I’ve been to small villages in rural China, and they’ve all heard of Las Vegas. But they’ve never heard of Nevada,” said DiStefano. But smaller states have to pull out even more stops to attract foreign investment. Montana, for example, offers cold winters, a long distance to markets and a small workforce, so to attract foreign dollars, locals have built business networks for years, mostly with the buyers of agricultural products. In addition, the state has had a special relationship with the Far East, notably through Mike Mansfield, the state’s former U.S. senator who served a lengthy ambassadorship to Japan. Max Baucus, Montana’s current senior senator, has organized economic summits in Montana for the past four years, trying to spark investment among his state’s mountains and vast prairies. This year, he brought the ambassadors of China, Korea, Bahrain, Panama, Indonesia and Chile to the summit in Butte, once the world’s copper mining capital but now the site of some of America’s most intractable environmental problems. The event featured such economic development all-stars as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Baucus also took several of the ambassadors to visit Montana businesses at other sites around the state. The visitors talked up their host’s economic potential and niches. For example, Naser Al Belooshi, the ambassador of Bahrain to the United States, noted that his country’s jewelry industry could use some of the platinum and palladium mined in Montana, according to local reports. He also mentioned growing soybeans in the Middle East—and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, as it happens, is a soil scientist who speaks Arabic and spent several years helping to grow crops in the Middle East. Gates and others also mentioned more futuristic investment opportunities in areas such as wind energy and clean-coal technology, issues championed by both Schweitzer and Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong. A few weeks later, in late May, more than 40 Chinese investors and officials attended a business expo organized by Baucus in Montana. Baucus said the visit was different from other foreign delegations that have visited Montana as it consisted mostly of private-sector decision makers. Beyond the promises of friendship and cooperation, most ambassadors would like something more specific: reduced trade barriers to sell their products in the United States. They picked good company for that message given that their host, Baucus, chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade issues and is instrumental in any trade agreement reaching the Senate floor. Baucus’s longtime Republican counterpart on the committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, was also successful in attracting diplomats to his state, pioneering trips through Iowa for upward of 100 diplomats during every congressional session for two decades (see October 2005 issue of The Washington Diplomat). It’s not just Heartland states with plenty of land and a need for jobs that are reaching out to the world. Locally, Fairfax County in Virginia, one of the nation’s richest, has a population and economy greater than many other states, thanks to its proximity to the endless federal dollars emanating from nearby Washington. But the county isn’t resting on its laurels: The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) has offices in Silicon Valley, Bangalore, Seoul, London, Frankfurt and Tel Aviv, and provides a vast array of services to promote local business development. And like Alabama, Fairfax County’s people and culture are a major draw, say its boosters. “Because we’re a federal town, and always have been, there’s a degree of sophistication, a degree of ‘cosmopolitan-ness’ that exists in the region,” said Gerald Gordon, chief executive officer and president of FCEDA. “People from outside the United States come here and feel comfortable.” Fairfax is also one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the nation, if not the world. Some 50,000 Koreans and Korean-Americans and about 40,000 Indians and Indian-Americans live in the county. And in the rapidly growing school system, 40 percent of students have at least one parent born outside the United States. Furthermore, according to Gordon, foreign-born people don’t just live in isolated enclaves, but throughout the county, integrating themselves with native-born Americans. That means people from abroad can find many of the conveniences of home—religious institutions, food and fellow countrymen—while also becoming part of the American community. In all, 358 foreign-owned companies from 38 different nations operate in the county, employing some 20,000 people. “It’s not just a place that accepts foreign people,” said Gordon. “We want foreign people.” Sanjay Talwani is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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