New venture to strengthen Maine-China ties
A Falmouth company that offers consulting services to companies interested in doing business in Asia is launching a new endeavor to strengthen ties between Maine and China.
Fox Intercultural Consulting Services today launched the Maine-China Business Center. The venture will aim to increase business ties between Maine and China, including bringing Chinese investors to Maine, arranging matchmaking trips for Maine companies interested in doing business in China, and assisting Maine schools in their international recruitment efforts.
Suzanne Fox, co-founder of Fox Intercultural Consulting Services, says Maine and China historically had economic ties in the shipbuilding and tea industries, but that today the Pine Tree State is virtually unknown within China. "The U.S. to people in China is Florida, California, Las Vegas," Fox says. "I think we're missing an opportunity."
Fox and her Beijing-based business partner, Paul Zhang, believe Maine has a lot to offer China, and vice versa, and were looking for ways to foster that engagement when they came up with the idea for the business center. Vermont, she says, has a trade office in Shanghai and a television special marketing the state on Chinese television. "If Vermont can do it, why don't we?"
According to Fox, the work to be done includes better representing Maine at industry trade shows, increasing educational recruitment efforts, matchmaking trips -- even having a man dressed in a lobster suit in Tiananmen Square.
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