Planning for this year's trip to the Midwest
On Wednesday June 16 we had a meeting discussing opportunities in connection with our trip in Sept/Oct to Minneapolis, Minot and Bismarck. Present in the meeting at Klosterøya in Skien were representatives from Innovation Norway, Grenland Development, Made in Grenland, Skien community,Telemark Heritage and Oliven Reiser. Mr. Yngve Berntsen from Sandefjord came to the meeting to give information about the business and trade market in Minneapolis. (more)
From Skien community and Telemark Heritage we gave a presentation of the history behind the collaboration between Minot/North Dakota and Skien/Telemark, which started in the 1980'ies. In 1993 the executive committee in Skien community approved a sister city relationship with Minot in North Dakota, and from 1994 onwards Skien has been represented every year at Norsk Høstfest. The sister city relationship has also included education and tourism.
The intention of the meeting at Klosterøya in Skien on June 16 was to see what can be done on the trade and industry level, and what possible spinn-offs that might be possible after our meetings in Minneapolis, Bismarck and Minot last autumn. Mr. Yngve Berntsen from Sandefjord gave a lot of interesting information about trade and industry in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and about the business opportunities that might be available in the Midwest.
The Made in Grenland organization is coordinating a possible business-delegation to Minnesota and North Dakota together with the Skien/Telemark delegation in Sept/Oct 2010.