Gov. Eric Holcomb said he won’t be coming home from his trade mission to Japan with any concrete announcements — but he’s confident there will be good news to share in the coming weeks or months.
Holcomb was in Japan this week as part of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association conference.
There were three other Midwestern governors at the conference, and Holcomb said there’s an awareness of how fierce the competition is for jobs and investment.
“The world’s run by those who show up — and we show up. And then we tell the story, we make sure they have the current information in order to make informed business decisions,” Holcomb said.
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With just a little more than a year left in his time as governor, Holcomb said he doesn’t feel any extra urgency to deliver immediate results on his overseas economic development trips.
“No extra pressure, but I would say a little bit more sentimental knowing that we only have so much time left to get so much in,” Holcomb said.
Holcomb said part of this trip was spent with the three Japanese automakers with Indiana facilities: Honda, Subaru and Toyota. He said they discussed how to work together to transition into the future, particularly with electric vehicles.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.