Gov. Ricketts 5 year International Plan

Posted By: Pierce Georlett

pgeorlett@klkntv.com 

On Wednesday morning Governor Ricketts and his International Trade Council unveiled their plan for economic growth, over the next five years.

"Today represents the culmination of years work, of discussion and collaboration. It also represents the implementation and the kickoff of going from talking to doing," said David Rippe the Director of Department of Economic Development. 

One of the many goals is to expand international opportunities for Nebraska Universities.

"The new strategic plan and putting together a strategic plan, I’m in the process of doing one right now for a large organization, so we all know without a strategic plan things don’t connect maybe as well as you would like for them to so having this plan in place with these five goals, I look forward to having the benefit for our state for a long time to come," added UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green.

A lot of this plan though has to deal with international trade, and international business.

Which could be worrisome because it could potentially be affected by the recent tariffs put in place by President Donald Trump.

"We’ve got an on going dialogue with regard to the administration on the tariffs and trade as I mentioned trade is incredible important for the state of Nebraska and the administration really has an open line to them," says Gov. Ricketts. 

Governor Ricketts though is confident in President Trump on getting a trade deal done, that will also benefit Nebraska farmers.

"At the end of the day it’s about getting better trade deals. They have demonstrated success in planes like South Korea in the European Union and it looks like their going to be buying more of our soybeans, so that’s a success," added Gov. Ricketts. 

Some other staggering numbers about the international growth is that UNL alone has taken in more than 5,000 international students this coming school year which is an increase of 47% from previous years.