South Dakota Trade traveled to East Asia with a delegation of government officials and trade leaders.
The delegation hosted a briefing from Taipei to offer progress and details of their trip.
The South Dakota delegation is made up of six companies, three industry associations, leadership from South Dakota State University and government officials.
The group traveled to both Japan and Taiwan for the trade mission.
Luke Lindberg is the President and CEO of South Dakota Trade. He said relationships are key in international business.
“We had a number of meetings with government agencies, we spoke frequently about the types of industries that South Dakota is engaged in that we brought to the table with us to these countries and are looking for those long-term, lasting relationships. We focused our delegation largely on three key industry segments. The first being food and agriculture, the second being defense and manufacturing, and the third being biotechnologies,” said Lindberg.
The delegation’s three areas of focus are aimed at opening new business-to-business opportunities in the state.
Hunter Roberts is the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. He said the international partnerships benefit all parties.
“Their department looks a lot different than ours. Their producers are, four acres is kind of their average farm size. They produce a lot of rice, quite a bit of dairy, and some meat. Hogs, chickens, and then aquaculture. So, a lot of things we don’t do in South Dakota they do well, and what we do in South Dakota they don’t really do as much. So, we are just a good fit. It is the same with Taiwan as well,” said Roberts.
The delegation participated in five trade shows in Taipei including those surrounding agriculture, manufacturing and biotechnologies.
They said Japan is our fourth largest trading partner while Taiwan is among the top fifteen export partners to the state.
