Georgia's economic development chief leaves Aug.16 for a nearly two-week trip to five cities in China, where he will meet with companies and conduct seminars aimed at drawing investment to Georgia.

Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said the seminars will serve as a sort of “Georgia showroom” to display what the state can offer companies looking to enter the U.S. market.

In China, the proportion of firms capable of going abroad has increased as the country's economy has matured, Mr. Stewart said.

“The Chinese economy has continued to grow while the rest of the world's economy has been stagnant or has actually reversed some in GDP, and they have a very fast growing middle class with a demand for products made all over the world,” he told GlobalAtlanta. “They're creating wealth there both in companies and individuals that will be spent and invested.”

That global ethos lies behind the business model of Chinamex, which creates a landing platform for Chinese companies investing abroad. Chinamex leaders visited Atlanta earlier this month to announce that they would open a Western Hemisphere headquarters here, bringing more than 100 companies from Hubei province into a 15,000-square-foot showroom space.

Despite this recent victory, the three major Chinese manufacturing investments announced over the past two years in Georgia have been beset with difficulties, not the least of which is the sluggish economy. Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. cited economic reasons for deferring its $30 million concrete-pumping equipment plant.

General Protecht Group has faced a litany of legal woes. Two years after the 2007 announcement, the 200-acre site in Barnesville where it planned to build a $30 million electrical products plant still sits empty. The company's chairman has told GlobalAtlanta that he is under investigation by the FBI and that the project remains uncertain until that issue is resolved. In May, he told local newspapers that he has been cleared but hasn't made public statements since.

Mr. Stewart said the recent struggles of the pioneer Chinese investors in Georgia wouldn't affect his interaction with prospects.

“We've had a rocky past year for all, so no, that doesn't affect (my pitch) at all, nor does it affect the attitude of the companies that we call on,” he said. “Everyone recognizes that the markets here have made quite an adjustment in the United States, including in Georgia.”

The trip will be Mr. Stewart's third to China as commissioner. The state opened an office in Beijing last April, inaugurating a concerted push to build long-term relationships in China that will “pay long-term dividends.”

Asked how he would respond to critics saying the state has spent too much time courting China, he said the relationship will likely unfold like Georgia's ties with Japan in the 1970s.

The state's economic development office opened there in 1975. With the boost of early successes like zipper maker YKK Corp., it's now “absolutely astounding the number of Japanese companies that have invested here,” he said. In the past, Mr. Stewart has put the number at more than 300 Japanese companies.

“It starts with a trickle, and it grows into a river. That is exactly what happened in Japan, and that's what we expect to happen with China as well,” he said.

During his trip, Mr. Stewart will integrate some business calls with those made by local chambers throughout the state on their own China ventures this year.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber took an 11-city trip in April, and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce courted businesses in six cities during a June mission to Asia.

"We sit around the table together and go over all the trips that are taken, the companies that are called on and which ones we need to call on again because there's real active potential," he said of ties with chambers in Georgia.

But thanks to his relatively high position and the importance of government in China, Mr. Stewart said he will be able to meet some higher-level officials that local groups might not be able to access.

He will visit Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Suzhou and Hong Kong, in that order.

Mark Lytle, who directs the state's international investment efforts, will accompany Mr. Stewart.

They will be joined by Lindsay Liu, director of Georgia's economic office in Beijing.

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