Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has accepted an invitation from the Taipei Computer Association to speak at its 2023 Smart Cities Summit and Expo in Taiwan this week. He won't be alone on the trip, as he is leading a delegation to the event. Elrich's guests will be County Councilmember Natali Fani-Gonzales, chair of the Council’s Economic Development Committee; Kevin Beverly, board chair of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC); Gail Roper, Montgomery County’s chief information officer; and Judy Costello, Montgomery County's special projects manager for Business, Innovation and Economic Development.
Representatives of five businesses that specialize in what a County press release calls "Smart Cities-related technologies" will also travel with the delegation. The companies are DFSFederal, Lumo Imaging (located in Potomac), Machfu (Rockville), Person Clinic (Rockville), and TSS, LLC. Not mentioned in the press release is whether their travel costs are being paid for by the County, or the businesses themselves.
The event will culminate this Friday, when Elrich will meet with Chiang Wan-an, the mayor of Taipei. Elrich will be one of only four members of the 1,300 expo participants who will participate in the mayor’s conference-ending press conference.
“I’m looking forward to meeting with Taiwanese business and academic leaders to learn more about their activities and to speak with them about why Montgomery County is a top location for them to enter or expand their presence in the United States," Elrich said in a statement. “Getting Montgomery County’s economy moving and working for everyone is my top priority as the Chair of Council Economic Development Committee,” Councilmember Fani-González said in the joint statement with Elrich. “That is why I am thrilled to join the County Executive and County business leaders on this delegation to Taiwan to bring investment and jobs to the County. We will aggressively court businesses and academic and research institutions to choose Montgomery County for their next location.”
Net/Net this is a waste of taxpayers money and not a single business will relocate here. In fact, almost any business worth noting is or has left. How desperate is our CE to attract anything here? Answer speaks for itself.
ReplyDeleteThe Taiwanese are devout capitalists and will see through Maoist Marc. Not a chance this junket results in a dollar in economic growth for the County. I hope I am wrong too!
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