Foreign direct investment in Cobb County has benefited communities financially but has also contributed to growing diversity and greater cultural enrichment, leaders said at a celebration of international trade and investment in Georgia’s third largest county.
SelectCobb, the county’s investment recruitment initiative, in March hosted the first of what looks to be an annual reception highlighting the consulates and companies that have helped deepen its global links.
Javier Diaz de Leon, consul general of Mexico and the dean of the Atlanta Consular Corps with seven years here under his belt, said such gatherings are key to sharing intelligence and highlighting the mutual advantages of trade.
Consulates, he said, seek to advance their own countries’ initiatives in the Southeast U.S., but also to benefit the communities where they serve.
“We have shared goals, which can include promoting economic development, job creation, increasing competitiveness and reducing poverty and inequality back in our home countries, but also here in the United States,” he said in prepared remarks.
Issues like trade disputes and supply-chain snags initiated by the COVID-19 crisis have raised global tensions, underscoring the importance of cross-border conversation and collaboration, he said.
Near-shoring — looking for sourcing partners closer to home to mitigate risk and boost resiliency — has become an essential element of countries’ foreign policy outreach and companies’ supply-chain plans.
“Countries are now very interested in mitigating risks that are associated with relying on a single provider or interested in fostering accelerated development in industries that are considered crucial for national security, sustainable development or to increase competitiveness,” he said.
That should benefit North America, he said, noting that Mexico supplanted China as the top trading partner for the U.S. in 2023, the first time that has happened in 20 years. More than 5 million jobs in the U.S., he said, rely on trade with Mexico.
Using a standard line, Mr. Diaz noted that his country’s trade with Georgia is about “more than avocados, tequila and peaches;” it’s about shared interest and making goods like cars and planes together, aided by the USMCA trade agreement, the successor deal to NAFTA.
That hemispheric advantage should persist despite isolationist calls by politicians, he said.
“We are building together. We are strategically connected together,” he said.
Driven largely by existing investors and job-creation potential, Cobb has focused its efforts on three main strategic countries — Japan, Germany and Canada — but its interconnections span much further.
Cobb is home to the city’s largest Brazilian diaspora, while Belgian companies like UCB, Dutch firms like Vanderlande and Indian-owned Novelis all have major outposts in the county. According to SelectCobb, 200-plus companies from more than 30 countries employ more than 17,000 people in the county. U.S. Census Bureau figures show that 15.6 percent of Cobb residents are foreign-born.
International relationships have long been an essential ingredient in the Cobb County recipe for success, even since the chamber hosted expositions in the field behind the Galleria tower decades ago, said Chuck Clay, senior counsel with Freeman Mathis and Gary LLP.
“And it hasn’t stopped since,” said Mr. Clay.
Freeman Mathis Decisions, the firm’s government relations consulting arm, sponsored the event, where Mr. Clay declared Cobb County the best place in the best state for business.
“The product speaks for itself,” Mr. Clay said.
Another sponsor, family attorney Michael Manely of The Manely Firm, said the business community constitutes an often-overlooked element of peace-building between nations, as investment creates a network of “vested interests” that helps bolster official diplomacy.
“Thank you all very much for your bravery and your commitment, for your compassion, for your passion and being a part of the international community,” Mr. Manely said.
Beyond Mexico, the reception attracted consuls, honorary consuls and binational chambers representing Barbados, Belgium, Colombia, Guyana, Hong Kong, Japan and Senegal.
Disclosure: SelectCobb is an annual advertising partner with Global Atlanta.
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