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Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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The Port of Tacoma and City of Tacoma are starting an 18-month trade project aimed at capitalizing on its long-standing sister city relationship with Fuzhou, China.
The pilot project aims to attract foreign direct investment from Fuzhou to the Tacoma area and develop export markets in Fuzhou for Pierce County companies.
To that end the port and city have hired trade representatives for offices in Tacoma and in Fuzhou.
"China is now Tacoma's largest trading partner by both volume and by dollar value, and Fuzhou is a key gateway to this market," said Connie Bacon, a Port of Tacoma commissioner.
Fuzhou is the capital of China's Fujian Province, which is on the country's southeastern coast, across from Taiwan.
Former Tacoma City Councilman Bill Evans pitched the project in conjunction with representatives from Fuzhou.
Bacon advocated for the port's involvement.
The city and port each contributed $100,000 for the initial pilot. The concept is to exchange trade representatives between the two cities.
The Port and City money helps fund a trade representative in Fuzhou and a project coordinator in Tacoma.
The Fuzhou Municipal People's Government is also sending a representative here to work out of the port's offices.
The port commission approved money for the project last fall. At that time, some questioned whether such a pilot project is needed.
The state's Community, Trade and Economic Development department already has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The Port of Tacoma too has offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
A task force including representatives from the city, port and World Trade Center Tacoma commissioned a feasibility study on the Fuzhou-Tacoma project last year.
That study found that while sister-city relationships alone don't promote business, they could open doors.
It also noted that such a program would need broad, consistent community support and a way to measure the office's success.
In interviews with other trade offices in China, the authors of the report noted that long-term commitment to the trade office is needed for its success.
