Governor discusses trade with South Korean president

By: Olympia Meola | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: May 16, 2011
Updated: May 16, 2011 - 10:49 AM

Gov. Bob McDonnell discussed trade matters today with South Korean President Myung-Bak Lee during the last leg of his marketing mission to Asia.

The governor begins his return trip home tomorrow after more than a week abroad, trying to expand Virginia agricultural exports in the growing markets and seeking to lure business back. In Japan, China and, most recently, South Korea, McDonnell met with business executives and some political leaders.

In a conference call with reporters this morning, McDonnell said over the course of the trip, about six memorandums of agreement have been signed. He said members of his Cabinet have “an enormous amount of follow up” to “help put some teeth into some of the preliminary agreements.”

“We believe that there will be within the next couple weeks some very specific releases that we will be able to provide, particularly in the agriculture export area,” he said.

He said agreements involving soybeans and chicken were reached in concept, and he would like to have more details soon on those as well as some port exchanges.

Agriculture is still the largest industry in Virginia, and McDonnell said “we know that particularly nations like Japan and Korea and even to some degree China because of their terrain, have more people than they do resources to feed them. And so pork, soybeans, peanuts, wine are all things that we know there are markets for in Asia and we have just got to continue to make that push.”

Aside from commodities, McDonnell said he’s also looking for “a dramatic increase in direct foreign investment in Virginia.”

In the approximately 40-minute meeting at the Blue House, South Korea's executive residence, the governor gave the South Korean leader a copy of a letter he sent to members of the Virginia congressional delegation in support of the Korean-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

Governor discusses trade with South Korean president

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