New Committee To Explore Trade Options

Spokane-area business, commun ity and education leaders Thursday voted to form a steering committee that will explore ways of expanding international trade opportunities.

The goal, participants of a daylong meeting said, is a public-private organization that can carry on the work now done by the city of Spokane’s Department of International Development.

The department will be eliminated at the end of the year.

Several speakers said a new organization should not be allied with any existing body to minimize concerns about its independence.

Also, they said, membership should be broadened to include businesses from throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Facilitator Pete Kerwien, a business strategist with the Washington Water Power Co., said steering committee members will return with recommendations that encompass a mission statement, as well as proposals for funding mechanisms.

Bob Scott, who has run the international affairs department since it opened in the mid-1980s, said the city is willing to provide some support for a public-private venture.

Budget constraints and political infighting made a purely public effort impossible, he said.

“It’s a good thing,” Scott said, comparing the potential partnership to the Spokane Area Economic Development Council and the Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau.

His department has compiled a significant data base and other information that should give a successor organization a significant boost, he said.

, DataTimes