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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alan Fogg,
Director of Communications
afogg@fceda.org, 703-790-0600
Fairfax County EDA Opens European Marketing Office
Frankfurt office joins London, Tokyo locations to attract overseas technology firms
Fairfax County, Virginia, August 2, 2000 — The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) has opened a marketing office in Frankfurt, Germany to target European technology firms that are eyeing expansion to the United States. The office is the FCEDA's third international location after London and Tokyo.
"Germany is one of Europe's hottest technology markets, and we want to tell companies from the continent that are considering expansion to the U.S. that this is the ideal place to do business," said Gerald L. Gordon, president of the FCEDA.
The European office is in leased space in a modern corporate headquarters building about 10 minutes from downtown Frankfurt. The FCEDA chose Frankfurt because of its central location in Europe and convenient flight connections between Frankfurt and Washington Dulles International Airport.
The FCEDA hired Joachim Schropp to be the European marketing representative. He is a former executive of several German companies and has been a consultant in Frankfurt for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
The FCEDA maintains offices overseas to promote Fairfax County to companies interested in expanding operations to the U.S. East Coast. The Tokyo office opened in 1997 and the London office opened in 1999. The international marketing effort is unparalleled in Virginia and the Washington, D.C., area.
About 150 international companies, including 11 from Germany, 15 from France and eight from the Netherlands, operate in Fairfax County. Proximity to Washington, D.C., and Dulles Airport, the availability of a highly educated and trained workforce, and a highly rated public school system are often factors in locating in Fairfax County.
The FCEDA International Marketing Division includes business development managers who concentrate on the Americas, Great Britain, continental Europe and Asia.
The FCEDA provides services and information designed to promote Fairfax County as a technology hub and a world-class center of commerce and trade. In addition to domestic and international marketing staffs, the FCEDA runs an aggressive capital attraction program to link entrepreneurs and start-up firms with venture capitalists and angel investors. Another program assists small, minority- and women-owned businesses. Information about the FCEDA's programs and services is available at www.FairfaxCountyEDA.org.
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