Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown will join Gov. Rick Scott on a trade mission to Brazil in October, Brown announced after a brief meeting Monday between the two at his office.
“We’re trying to expand our economic base here in Jacksonville,” Brown said this morning. “It’s a great opportunity.”
Brown said his areas of interest would be aviation, transportation and logistics, which all are targeted industries for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“We want to work with our state and economic development officials and continue a partnership that will bring jobs to the area,” he said. “We need to continue to leverage our assets.”
He said the port will be one of the leading contributors to such development.
Brown will head to Sao Paulo, Brazil, on the trip and be joined by almost 200 business leaders, including some from Jacksonville that he would not identify.
“I define leadership as going out and making it happen,” he said of the trip. “I believe in that.”
He said the Brazil trade mission will be his first international business trip, but it appears that it won’t be his last.
He said he is considering trips to Japan, China and Korea as well as attending business trips with the chamber and other organizations to bring economic development to Jacksonville.
“You have got to go where the growth is,” he said.
Jacksonville has ties with the South American country.
In 2009 under former Mayor John Peyton, Curitiba, Brazil, was named one of Jacksonville’s “Sister Cities.” The program is intended to promote cultural understanding and stimulate educational and economic development between the two cities.
The trade trip will be Oct. 23-27 and is coordinated by Enterprise Florida, a not-for-profit partnership between Florida businesses and state government.
A May news release by the organization announcing the trip states Florida exports to Brazil in 2010 were more than $13.7 billion.
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