NEW ORLEANS: The first foreign trade office in at least 30 years is set to open in New Orleans, a city eager for new investment as it tries to diversify its tourist-dependent economy following Hurricane Katrina.
Local leaders see Monday's scheduled opening of the Australian trade office as a positive sign in the recovery from the 2005 storm — and an opportunity to further capitalize on renewed international interest in New Orleans.
Mexico plans to reopen its consulate — an apparent response to the post-Katrina boom in the region's Hispanic population — as early as October, and the city expects Guatemala will follow.
But for New Orleans to remake its image as a "true international community," the state must better fund projects at the Port of New Orleans, and the city must hire more staff with international business expertise, City Council President Arnie Fielkow said. The city has one such official currently.
"The more relationship-building we can do and investment we can make in our port, the better it will be," he said.
Katrina was a catalyst for Australia opening its Gulf South trade office in New Orleans, said Bryan Wallace, the office's American district manager. Since the storm, a series of Australian trade groups have visited, and at least one new business, a modular-home manufacturer, has been established about 140 miles (225 kilometers) west of New Orleans. Australians also have announced plans to invest $150 million (€106 million) in a recycling plant in Shreveport, Wallace said.
"While we live here and see things every day, over and over again, the pace of progress might seem to be excruciatingly slow," he said. "I think (the Australians are) taken aback, like everyone else, by the size of what happened. But they took a look at it and said, 'Let's roll up our sleeves.' They want to be a part of the rebuilding process."
Australia is the only country to open a new trade office in Louisiana since Katrina, though the state has been courting foreign investment. In recent months, Governor Kathleen Blanco has visited England and Spain.
Foreign delegations have visited the region to assess recovery needs and the potential for investment, but it is not clear how successful those trips have been for New Orleans in terms of dollars given or invested; a city spokesman said City Hall does not track that.
Still, a delegation, including Fielkow and the mayor's chief of international affairs, Lisa Ponce de Leon, made the pitch for more trade offices and consulates during a trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
Currently, New Orleans has seven consulates, not including the planned Mexican office, though Japan has planned to move its office from New Orleans to Nashville, Tennessee, in the coming months.
Ponce de Leon's dream for the city is for Canal Street, the major downtown thoroughfare, to become "Consulate Row," with flags from various countries flying.
"We had it," she said. "We can go back to it."
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/01/business/NA-FIN-US-New-Orleans-Trade.php
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