Release Date: Sep 26, 2008
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Summary:
On Sunday, September 21, 2008, Montgomery County Commissioners Dan Foley and Deborah Lieberman, along with Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin and 20 other members of a business delegation, returned from a 9-day trade mission to Israel.  The trip was part of a multi-year plan to attract Israeli aerospace companies to the Dayton region.

"This trade mission to Israel exceeded our expectations.  We are excited about the relationships we are building to establish Montgomery County and the Dayton Region as leaders in the aerospace industry," said Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley.

The delegation met with 18 different Israeli companies including defense giants Raphael, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Elbit Systems.  Many of these companies focus on Sensor Technologies, Advanced Materials or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.  Meetings were also held with the Ministry of Defense, the Israeli Air Force, the Israel Export Institute and Israel's premier engineering university, the Technion.

Montgomery County Commissioner Deborah Lieberman said, "Montgomery County and the Dayton region already have incredible economic strengths in the field of aerospace.  This trade mission to Israel will allow us to expand on those strengths and improve our region's economic development strategy."

"The City of Dayton strongly supports the initiative to develop and strengthen our relationship with Israel.  Dayton currently has much of the necessary infrastructure to nurture and support the growth of Israeli companies, including the business incubator, the University of Dayton Research Institute and the related IDCAST development, the Dayton Campus for Advanced Materials Technology, Tech Town, and many other assets.  We are very excited about the potential for mutually beneficial
economic development opportunities that the trip has revealed," added City of Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin.

The trip also included representatives from Wright Patterson Air Force Base, the University of Dayton, Sinclair Community College, the Dayton Development Coalition, CityWide Development Corp., regional business incubators and private sector companies.

Montgomery County Administrator Debbie Feldman said, "We are well on our way to building strong business relationships with the Israeli companies. The City of Haifa is known as the center of the aerospace industry in Israel.  Our goal is to make the Dayton Region the center for that same technology in the United States."

The mission doesn't stop here.  Organizers will prepare an invitation for representatives from the Israeli companies and the Haifa area to visit Montgomery County possibly in the Spring of 2009.