Board of County Commissioners Highlights on International Business Development
Some of the accomplishments since 2003 are:
Office of Economic Development/Broward Alliance
- The Royal Bank of Canada has opened 5 branches in Broward County
- BrazMix, DHL, ABN-AMRO, DutyFree Americas, Bolton Medical, Nipro Diabetes, MEDLatino have established headquarters and/or regional offices in Broward County creating:
– Capital Investment: $225 million
– Job Creation: 2000+ new jobs
– Square Footage: 1,000,000+ square feet
County-initiated economic development efforts include:
- Manaus-Showroom and CMA Shipping established (Note: new plans for Showroom by City of Hollywood)
- Zapopan, Mexico ($22 million to date—publishing/printing)
- China – Proposed $50-$100 million project for Asian Trading Center; approximately 6 contracts signed for logistics, metals company and patent law firm
– Formal letter from State of Florida and Broward County Mayor inviting Sichuan Province to open Broward County Trade office
– MedDirect Latino Letter of Intent and contract for joint venture to manufacture medical devices in Shenzen and Beijing region
- Germany – 2 contracts (undisclosed $$ at this time) signed in 2006 by patent law firm
- Spain – Academia joint venture being developed from 2005 mission
Inbound Missions:
Since 2003, Broward County has hosted over 33 delegations that consisted of China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Japan, Spain, Turkey, Jamaica, Brazil, Malyasia, West Africa, Chile, Colombia, Germany, West Indies, Netherlands, South Africa, Ireland, United Kingdom, Dominican Republic, Canada and Australia. Many of these countries have visited the County approximately two-four times to foster and build strong relationships with Broward County. Also, it should be noted that there have been many small delegations that have been hosted by various organizations in our region.
Port Everglades
- Mediterranean Shipping, worlds second largest cargo vessels operator, signed 20-year lease; anticipated annual tonnage to exceed 1 million tons
- Development of cargo/tonnage volume incentive plan that resulted in over 15 new container carriers (including two new Far East services)
- COSCO contract signed in Shanghai, China 2006 -- $1million annually
Airport
- Cayman Islands began direct service from FLL-Grand Cayman
- American opened flights to Port-au-Prince, Santa Domingo and Caracas
- Spirit direct flights to Cancun
- Pan Am, North American and Travelspan added flights to the Caribbean
- AeroMexico to begin service in September 2006
Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Asociacion Latinoamericana de Expertos en Cruceros strong relationships
- TIA World Annual Marketing Meeting held at Convention Center
- Hosted Visit USA Committees from Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Bolivia, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil
- Successfully bid and held the Organization of American States
Involvement of Other County Agencies:
OED when planning their first mission to China worked with staff from the Revenues Department that was directly involved with the third largest telecom company in China and facilitated a meeting for Mayor Lieberman's mission to Shanghai in May 2004. This year, staff from the County Administrator's office has given their expertise in the planning stages of the upcoming 2006 China mission. In other inbound missions, Cultural Affairs and the Libraries have been involved. The County's Public Communications Department has designed a brand for the European Mission brochure and the upcoming China mission brochure and will continue to work with OED on future inbound and outbound missions.
