Gov. Jay Nixon is returning from South America today with agreements promising more than $1 billion in new business for Missouri businesses.
They include a $300 million bi-lateral agreement with Peru, signed Thursday, and a $750 million agreement with Colombia, signed Tuesday.
"By increasing exports in these emerging markets, and recruiting new investments for Missouri," Nixon told reporters and newspaper editors during a Thursday afternoon video conference from Lima, Peru, "we're creating more jobs at home."
The governor and first lady Georganne Nixon led a trade mission that included state Economic Development Director Mike Downing and representatives of six Missouri-based companies. Nixon said the business leaders called the mission "very fruitful trip to these developing countries."
"They have also been meeting with perspective clients to cultivate new business, and the reception has been very positive," he added.
The trade mission met with U.S. officials at embassies in both countries; with directors of the American Chambers of Commerce in Lima and Bogota, Columbia; and with representatives of each nation's government.
"It's clear to see that agriculture in Colombia represents a great opportunity for Missouri," Nixon said. "They have great natural resources and want to export more food and to develop more land that they could use to help not only in exports and with agriculture technology from a leading agricultural state like Missouri."
Colombia was Missouri's 27th largest trading partner in 2014, receiving more than $81.9 million in Missouri goods and commodities, a governor's office news release reported.
The largest categories of Missouri products exported to Colombia were chemicals, non-electrical machinery, food, and electrical equipment and appliances.
Peru was Missouri's 42nd largest market for exports, receiving more than $25.6 million in Missouri goods and commodities in 2014.
Leading export categories from Missouri to Peru were non-electrical machinery, food, fabricated metal products and chemicals.
Officials in both South American nations also are interested in working with the University of Missouri's land-grant research programs, the governor said.
"This is an area where we see continued opportunities," Nixon said.
Last August, the governor noted, Missouri was awarded a $599,000 U.S. Small Business Administration competitive grant from the State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) Grant Program.
It's intended to increase the number of Missouri small businesses that export their products, especially to emerging markets, and focuses on Colombia, Panama and Peru.
In his seven years as governor, Nixon has led at least nine trade missions to Canada, western Europe, South America and Asia.
"In the first two years I was governor, I learned a couple of things really quickly," he explained. "We were having a significant loss in productivity and jobs in our state and our country.
"(But) the two sectors of Missouri's economy that were rock-solid in that most difficult of times were agriculture and foreign trade."
Those trade trips have helped Missouri's economy and made the state more competitive, leading to "what is now $11 billion worth of deals," Nixon said, including a number of companies from other countries building and operating plants here.
Just last week, Nixon's office announced a Danish company's decision to open a $30 million molded-fiber egg packaging facility in Rolla, creating 50 new jobs in that area.
The trade missions "allow us to present to the world - in a focused way - what a great place Missouri is to invest, what a world-view that we have and our willingness to attract business from around the world," Nixon said.
Several news releases this week emphasized the Nixons' travel costs were paid by the Hawthorn Foundation, not taxpayer funds.