The United States remains the best place in the world to invest for many reasons, declared Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he addressed the 2023 SelectUSA Investment Summit:
“Our culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, driving new products and solutions at scale; a world-class system of universities and colleges, fueling ideas and fostering talent; our rule of law, protecting intellectual property, worker rights, fostering growth.”
The United States has taken steps to make itself an even more attractive place to invest in and do business, said Secretary Blinken. This includes historic investments in competitiveness with legislation like the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, and improved infrastructure, including new roads, rail transit, waterways, airports, and expanded broadband access.
The United States is also modernizing its economic partnerships around the world, said Secretary Blinken. New initiatives like the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity “both protect our national and economic security, and that of our partners – creating closer connections between our countries, more opportunities for our businesses to invest and to thrive.”
This approach is delivering results, said Secretary Blinken:
“Since 2021, the private sector has invested more than $435 billion in businesses across the United States. A third of the investments announced since August have involved a foreign investor . . . So far, this fiscal year, we have already issued nearly double the number of business visas that we did at this point last year, and we’ve also surpassed the number of business visas that were issued before the COVID-19 pandemic – so that entrepreneurs and investors can attend professional conferences, negotiate contracts, work with their associates, do the countless things that they do to run successful businesses.”
Since 2011, this conference has helped bring in more than $80 billion in private investment. “These partnerships have also helped us advance critical foreign policy priorities,” said Secretary Blinken.
At last year’s SelectUSA Summit, the Taiwan-based semiconductor manufacturer GlobalWafers announced plans for a new state-of-the-art facility in Sherman, Texas. This facility will fill a critical gap in the advanced semiconductor supply chain – crucial to preserving the competitiveness on a technology that is foundational to the 21st century economy.
“The United States is very much open for business,” declared Secretary Blinken to potential investors around the world, “and we hope you choose to invest your time and your talents with us.”
