FOREIGN DELEGATIONS TO VISIT LOCAL BUSINESSES THROUGH PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN CITY AND CENTER FOR INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Harrisburg, PA – Mayor Stephen R. Reed today said that Center for Intercultural Education and Development at Georgetown University has brought the first of many groups of foreign students and executives to Central Pennsylvania to visit area businesses and meet with executives as part of a newly-formed partnership between the City of Harrisburg and the Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED). Several visits are being planned for the coming year.
Reed said officials from the Georgetown University CIED, based out of Washington, D.C., contacted the City this past spring in an effort to organize several visits to the City and its surrounding businesses. During each of the visits, Georgetown University and City officials will escort the delegations to different businesses in the area to meet with local executives and learn more about their local business practices. The delegations will each also hear presentations from local officials on a range of business topics.
A delegation of French MBA students is visiting Harrisburg today, November 13, 2008, and will tour the city-based Turbine Airfoil Designs, Inc., (TAD) and hear comments from TAD Chief Executive Officer Ben Frazier. The delegation will then dine at a city-based restaurant on N. 2nd Street and later meet with Doug Neidich, General Manager of Amphenol InterCom Systems, and tour the facility before returning to the Washington, D.C. area.
A delegation of Chinese governmental executives will then visit Harrisburg on Thursday, November 20, 2008. They will visit the City Government Center in the morning and will hear from several speakers, including: Ed Nielsen, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and Special Projects; Wilfred Muskins, Deputy Secretary, International Business Development, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and Ben Frazier, CEO, Turbine Airfoil Designs, Inc. The Chinese delegation will eat lunch at a city-based restaurant and then tour the Hershey Company’s West Hershey facility and meet with senior staff from Wal-Mart International before returning to the Washington, D.C. area.
"We are delighted to be partnering with Center for Intercultural Education and Development of Georgetown University on such a worthy cause," said Reed. "The partnership will allow foreign visitors to learn more about the many businesses in and around Harrisburg that make up Central Pennsylvania’s economy. The visits will also give many of this city’s and region’s businesses international exposure, thus further enhancing the business opportunities that are possible between our best corporations and those overseas."
Reed said the delegation visits and seminars are not open to the public, but said that any local business that is interested in contributing to future visits should contact Marko Primorac in the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and Special Projects at (717) 255-3027.
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