Lexington, Louisville Mayors Announce Details of BEAM Global Trade & Investment Plan

FRANKFORT, Ky, (WTVQ) – During a press conference Monday morning — Lexington Mayor Jim Gray and Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher announced details of the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement (BEAM) Regional Foreign Direct Investment Plan.

The BEAM region includes 22 counties that surround Lexington and Louisville.

BEAM was selected to join the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Metro areas included in that network are called to develop strategies to boost global trade.

Paul Costel of J.P.Morgan Chase announced the company has offered a $220,000 grant in support of the BEAM’s new plan to help increase export success and aid Foreign Direct Investment in the BEAM region.

“We feel both a responsibility and an obligation to help our communities thrive,” said Costel. “For 200 years we’ve been helping businesses around the world export and we’ve also been using our global reach to help companies bring jobs here”.

According to the Brookings Institution,  39% of all GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is attributed to cross-border transactions of goods, services and capital.

“This trend towards urbanization, increased middle-class around the world, additional markets and globalization will continue in some fashion,” said Marek Gootman of Brookings Institution.

“It’s really a question of whether city regions and the firms in them are effectively positioned to take advantage of this trend or whether they will be taken advantage of. Whatever your political views of free-trade agreements and trade — our work with about 30 U.S. city regions and about a dozen international companies reinforce that it is invaluable for the private sector and public sector in our city region economies to be working together to address the global market place,” said Gootman.

According to the Cabinet for Economic Development, 20% of new jobs created in Kentucky are the result of foreign direct investment.