Indiana Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman to Speak at Sagamore Institute About Trade Opportunities with China

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — On Wednesday, September 8th,
Sagamore Institute will welcome a group of Indiana mayors to hear Lt. Governor
Becky Skillman highlight her recent agricultural trade mission to Zhejiang
Province, Indiana’s sister state in China. The event signals the formal launch
of Sagamore’s “Mayors’ Roundtable Initiative,” an effort to serve as a link
between Indiana mayors and potential trade relationships in China.

In 1987, then Indiana Governor Robert Orr initiated a sister-state relationship
between Indiana and China’s Zhejiang Province. Twenty-three years later, nine
Indiana cities–Muncie, Anderson, Bloomington, Franklin, Indianapolis,
Valparaiso, Elkhart, Fishers, and Marion–are pursuing sister-city
relationships.

Sagamore Institute has played a key role in fostering these partnerships. In
2006 Sagamore’s president Jay Hein signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences (ZASS), a sister “think tank” in Hangzhou,
China, for the purpose of exploring unique import and export opportunities
between the two states.

“Sagamore’s research partnership with ZASS is a critical building block in
establishing a 21st-century trading partnership between Indiana and China,” said
Hein. “Our research will identify promising investment opportunities in both
places and our events will forge lasting partnerships among business and
government leaders.”

While in China in June, the Lt. Governor delivered Sagamore’s part of a joint
study to ZASS. She also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government
of Zhejiang to continue agricultural trade efforts between the two states.

“Indiana and all our cities stand to benefit from China’s growing population and
economic success,” Skillman said. “It would simply be bad policy for a state
like Indiana to ignore a country that consumes more grain, meat, coal, and steel
than any other country in the world.”

On September 8th at 2 p.m., the Lt. Governor will speak about her experiences
with a gathering of Indiana mayors at Sagamore Institute’s new headquarters in
the historic Levey Mansion.

About Sagamore Institute

Sagamore Institute is an Indianapolis-based nonpartisan research group–or
“think tank”–that brings policymakers and practitioners together to turn ideas
into action. Follow us on Facebook here.

SOURCE Sagamore Institute