MILTON — Santa Rosa County is taking a step forward in making ties with Japanese companies.
Officials on Friday hosted a luncheon at the Economic Development Office for Ken Okaniwa, Consul General of Japan in Miami, and Mark Jackson, Consul of Japan in Birmingham. All About Food provided the meal, a salad, brisket and cheesecake.
This was Okaniwa's second trip to Northwest Florida and his first time in Santa Rosa County. His visit, including a tour of Naval Air Station Whiting Field, preceded the Japan U.S. Military Program on Saturday at National Aviation Museum in Pensacola.
Okaniwa said his main interest is in the aerospace industry.
He said he worked with the Japan External Trade Organization “to organize a workshop on aerospace between Japan and Florida on Sept. 20 and there were 80 companies from Japan attending this conference. That meeting served, I think, to raise the interest of the Japanese companies related to aerospace to recognize Florida has a very vibrant and growing aerospace industry.”
Jackson’s interest was in developing economic ties between Northwest Florida and lower Alabama and, more broadly, developing ties between the southeastern states.
He asked Ogletree if there were interest in the development of a lower Alabama-northern panhandle cooperative program to bring industry to that area.
Ogletree said he’s spoken with the Coastal Gateway Regional Economic Development Alliance, made up of Alabama counties from Escambia County, Ala., to Choctaw County. Jackson said he’d be happy to make connections between Alabama and the Florida Panhandle area.
After the luncheon, Economic Development Director Shannon Ogletree said he spoke with Okaniwa about the next steps for Santa Rosa County.
“Next steps are to, one, host a delegation of Japanese companies in Santa Rosa County; two, meet and build relationships with Japanese companies currently located in the U.S.; and three, continue to build relationships with these companies.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa hosts Japanese diplomat, talks economic development