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Press Release
Maryland’s Global
Partnerships Showcased at Baltimore Embassy Forum
Baltimore,
May 27, 2004—On Tuesday, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Baltimore played host to over 400
diplomats and area business executives at the World Trade Center Institute’s (WTCI)
16th Annual Embassy Day trade exhibition and luncheon. Over 100 diplomats from nearly 50 Embassies were
drawn to Baltimore for the opportunity to meet with Maryland business, academia and
government. “We
see great value in Embassy Day,” said Emily Piekarski, from Merrill Corporation a
global translation company. “Having the
embassies join businesses outside the confines of Washington D.C. makes this a truly
unique event,” said Ms. Piekarski.
The
Embassy Day program included a trade exhibition where companies as well as embassies
marketed their services. The Luncheon
provided a company-embassy panel discussion that revolved around two countries from
different hemispheres and phases of development: Guatemala and Singapore. The finale presentation, moderated by WTCI
President Deborah Kielty, was a dynamic exchange between Aris
Melissaratos, Secretary the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development
(DBED) and Mark
Sneed, President of Phillips Foods on Maryland industry entitled, From Maryland Crabs
to Advanced Technologies. “Mark
Sneed, has been instrumental in Phillips Foods’ phenomenal global growth, and Aris
Melissaratos, an engineer with 40 years of business experience who is now the State’s
top business advocate, kept the audience spellbound,” said Ms. Kielty.
At
the Luncheon, the Guatemala panel centered on the great progress that Guatemala is making
on a variety of fronts to join the global world. “Guatemala
is the number two trading partner for the U.S. after Mexico for the region,” said
Ambassador H.E. Guillermo Castillo of the Embassy of Guatemala. “We are glad to be playing a key role in helping Guatemala, and countries throughout the world,
to build the
local health capacity to solve their own health problems of women and children,” said
Dr. Leslie Mancuso, CEO of JHPIEGO, an affiliate of
Johns Hopkins University and a global health concern operating in over 40 developing
countries. “We know health issues must be addressed as part of a
country’s economic strategy,” she said. “JHPIEGO
also knows that it must build global and local partnerships to solve the problems
of women and children,” she said. Dr. Mancuso
was a co-presenter on the Guatemala panel with Ambassador Castillo.
The partnership motif was carried over
into the Singapore panel that featured Peter Bain, Executive
Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Legg Mason, Inc; Chris Foster, Deputy
Secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, and Counselor Ong Eng Chuan on the
Embassy of Singapore. “Maryland must build bridges across
the globe for our state to continue to prosper,” said Mr. Foster. He added, “But Maryland must also build
bridges within our state to help our firms connect with critical government, institutional
and capital resources to ensure we stay competitive.”
“It’s
a shame it took us 16 years to realize the existence of this fantastic event,” said
Counselor Ong Eng Chuan. Mr. Ong confided
that this was his and the Singapore Embassy’s first attendance at the Embassy Day
event. “We had a tremendous opportunity
for networking and third party endorsements of doing business in Singapore.” “Next year, we will have a bigger
presence,” he said.
"There is no other event like Embassy Day, to my knowledge, where so many embassies come together for networking with the business community,” said Ms. Piekarski. “I really enjoyed the Maryland Industry panel in particular,” said Carolyn Smith,” from the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress.
“It was great to hear so many positive, real life examples of the benefits of international trade and the Phillips Foods model provides some useful anecdotes for good business practices,” she said.
Embassies also found great value in the networking at the event. “Our goals were to meet with Maryland
business executives, but we also wanted to meet with Maryland’ key international
players, particularly state government and knowledge centers,” said Dave Feldman,
Vice Consul with the British Embassy. “It’s
a challenge for embassies to get out of the Washington beltway,” he said. “Embassy Day provided us a great opportunity
to get connected with the key players in Maryland.”
In
addition to the embassy panel presentations, embassies and companies were showcased in
various industry pavilions where Maryland has a renowned capability. Pavilion hosts included Perdue for Agribusiness,
Northrop Grumman for Defense and Security, CB Richard Ellis for Real Estate and the
Maryland Port Administration for Transportation.
Embassy
Day also drew some key Maryland trade groups to the event.
Representatives in attendance were from the Regional Manufacturing Institute
(RMI) the Technology Council of Maryland and the Maryland China Business Council. “WTCI has repeatedly shown great leadership
in engaging Maryland’s trade association community as fellow partners for their
events and we appreciate it,” said Dr. Mike Galiazzo, Executive Director of RMI.
Headquartered
in Baltimore, Maryland, the World Trade Center Institute (WTCI) is the premier
international business hub for the Mid-Atlantic region with over 3,000 clients benefiting
from its global connections, international business training and customized consulting
services. WTCI has an extensive global reach through its 300 world trade centers around
the world. As a non-profit,
non-political organization, WTCI’s overall goal is to enhance international trade,
promote local economic development, and ultimately foster economic stability through
trade.
