BOND PROMOTES INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT IN MISSOURI
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May 11, 2007
ST. LOUIS, MO – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today joined U.S Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr., and former United Nations ambassador John Danforth to visit bioMérieux, a French company that utilizes a St. Louis facility to produce medical diagnostic equipment, to promote international investment in Missouri.
“The world is getting smaller. So we have to think globally—even as we act locally,” said Bond. “Foreign investment and free trade benefits Missouri and the nation. It creates jobs and reduces trade deficits.”
Bond stressed that over the past decade, foreign direct investment has come to play a major role in the internationalization of business. He also noted that foreign investment strengthens U.S. manufacturing, helps to keep interest rates low, and contributes to rising productivity, tax revenues, markets and exports.
Bond praised bioMérieux for their investment in Missouri. The company currently has approximate 600 employees in St. Louis with 100 involved in research and the rest in manufacturing. BioMerieux’s diagnostic equipment identifies bacteria and determines which drugs are most efficient. This technology is widely used to determine food safety and the presence of harmful bacteria such as e-coli and salmonella.
bioMérieux is a perfect example of foreign investment contributing to a local U.S. economy. Currently U.S. affiliates of foreign companies, like bioMérieux, employ 5.3 million U.S. workers, or 4.7 percent of private industry employment. bioMérieux is also a perfect example of the 41 percent of the jobs related to U.S. affiliates of foreign companies that are in the manufacturing sector.
“Some in Congress want to put up barriers and shut the U.S. out of the growing global economy,” said Bond. “Embracing protectionism and isolationism will not protect us. But it will surely isolate us from economic and security benefits that investment from abroad yields.”
“The world is getting smaller. So we have to think globally—even as we act locally,” said Bond. “Foreign investment and free trade benefits Missouri and the nation. It creates jobs and reduces trade deficits.”
Bond stressed that over the past decade, foreign direct investment has come to play a major role in the internationalization of business. He also noted that foreign investment strengthens U.S. manufacturing, helps to keep interest rates low, and contributes to rising productivity, tax revenues, markets and exports.
Bond praised bioMérieux for their investment in Missouri. The company currently has approximate 600 employees in St. Louis with 100 involved in research and the rest in manufacturing. BioMerieux’s diagnostic equipment identifies bacteria and determines which drugs are most efficient. This technology is widely used to determine food safety and the presence of harmful bacteria such as e-coli and salmonella.
bioMérieux is a perfect example of foreign investment contributing to a local U.S. economy. Currently U.S. affiliates of foreign companies, like bioMérieux, employ 5.3 million U.S. workers, or 4.7 percent of private industry employment. bioMérieux is also a perfect example of the 41 percent of the jobs related to U.S. affiliates of foreign companies that are in the manufacturing sector.
“Some in Congress want to put up barriers and shut the U.S. out of the growing global economy,” said Bond. “Embracing protectionism and isolationism will not protect us. But it will surely isolate us from economic and security benefits that investment from abroad yields.”