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Freshly sworn in Thursday for a second term in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp is headed abroad next week to tout the state’s economic record in rarefied air at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The Republican governor, who attributes his comfortable victory in November to Georgia’s recent investment successes and what he has characterized as a balanced approach to fiscal issues and the pandemic, will rub shoulders with global elites across the corporate, government and nonprofit sectors.
At the annual alpine conclave, Mr. Kemp will join a panel addressing the foreign policy implications of the “reshaped legislative landscape” in the United States alongside multiple members of the U.S. House and Senate, as well as at least one fellow governor: Democrat J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.
Two senators who have made names for themselves by moderating President Joe Biden’s climate and social agenda during his first two years in office — Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who recently announced she would turn independent — are also slated to join the same session, along with World Economic Forum President Børge Brende.
“Governor Kemp looks forward to traveling to Davos to share with leaders how the state of Georgia’s long record of conservative governance, protecting individual liberty, and championing opportunity can serve as a model for economic success across the country and around the world,” a Kemp spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement first reported by the Capitol Beat news service.
Contacted by Global Atlanta, the governor’s office declined to comment on the content of Mr. Kemp’s remarks beyond the initial statement, but he did say a few executive meetings were planned during the trip.
“He will be meeting with a few company executives, continuing to share why Georgia is such a great place in which to invest and bring new jobs,” said the spokesperson, who added that :financial regulations and other restrictions” preclude disclosure of whom the governor will meet.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development, meanwhile, did confirm that Mr. Kemp will use his time in Europe to thank investors that have committed hundreds of millions of dollars toward pivotal projects around the state.
Mr. Kemp will swing by Germany for his first visit to the country since before the pandemic began in early 2020.
On the docket in the country is a stop in the city of Hamburg to meet with Aurubis, the copper recycler that said in December that it would nearly double a previously announced investment in Augusta, bringing its capital commitments to its smelter to more than $600 million.
Also in Hamburg, the governor will visit Hapag-Lloyd, the shipping giant that consolidated its headquarters in Dunwoody in December 2021, adding 250 jobs.
The department did not make clear whether the governor will be visiting other prospects in Germany or elsewhere in Europe.
Mr. Kemp is not the first politician from Georgia to make its case on the Davos stage. In 2014, then-Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed spoke on urban issues at the annual meeting.
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