Transcription of Maine, Iceland & the World Beyond #168
Speaker 1: You’re listening to Love Maine Radio, with Dr. Lisa Belisle. Recorded in the studio of Maine Magazine at 75 Market Street, Portland, Maine. Dr. Lisa Belisle is a physician trained in family and preventative medicine. Acupuncture and public health. She offers medical care and acupuncture at Brunswick Family Medicine. Read more about her integrative approach to wellness in Maine Magazine. Love Maine Radio is available for download free on iTunes. See the Love Maine Radio Facebook page or www.Love Maine Radio.com for details. Now here are a few highlights from this week’s program.
Speaker 2: Putting a container ship here providing access to 315 million plus [market 00:00:50] in Europe is going to be very cost effective for Maine businesses.
Speaker 3: It really is all about getting Maine recognized as a global player on the economic side and also as an important place in terms of representing the US and being open to international groups.
Speaker 4: I think in terms of the younger students, when parents are looking for a place to send their kids to school, they’ll look at Maine and it’s a good choice. It’s a safe place to send their kids. They know they’ll be well educated and they’ll get lots of fresh air and outdoor time.
Speaker 1: Love Maine Radio is made possible with the support of the following generous sponsors. Maine Magazine, Marci Booth of Booth Maine. Apothecary by Design. Mike LaPaige and Beth Franklin of ReMax Heritage. Tom Sheppard, of Sheppard Financial. Hardingly Smith of The Rooms. And Bangor Savings Bank.
Lisa: This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you’re listening to Love Maine Radio. Show number 168. Maine, Iceland, and the world beyond. Airing for the first time on Sunday, November 30, 2014. Have you seen the name Eimskip on Portland’s waterfront? Transporting inbound items, such as German chocolate and outbound products like Maine blueberries, this Icelandic based company has provided a boost to the Maine economy. One that will continue to strengthen as we maximize our international exposure.
Today we speak with Eimskip station manager, Peter Peterson, Janine Cary, President and State Director of International Trade at the Maine International Trade Center. And Dana Eidsness, Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office. Thank you for joining us. Having lived outside the city of Portland for most of my life, I am somewhat familiar with the Portland waterfront. When something new comes along, it’s of great interest to me. Today we have an individual with us on Love Maine Radio that’s going to talk about some of the new things that are happening along the Portland waterfront.
This is Peter Peterson, who is Skip’s Portland Station Manager. Thank you so much for coming in today.
Peter: Thank you for having me.
Lisa: People who are driving on the Casco Bay Bridge, who look down towards the water on the Portland side, they see big containers that say Eimskip. It’s E-I-M-S-K-I-P.
Peter: Absolutely. You pronounced it right.
Lisa: Thank you. What does that mean? Who are you and where do you come from?
Peter: Well, Eimskip was founded as the Icelandic steam ship company in 1914. With participation of about 20 percent of the population who is part of us gaining more independence. We were then currently ruled by the Danish crown. They controlled all shipping to and from the island of Iceland. In 1914, this happened and the Icelandic steam ship company, Eimskip of Iceland was founded.
Lisa: What is the relationship between … well, why is there a relationship between Portland and Iceland? Why did that become important? I know Sophie Nelson has written about this in the Old Port Magazine. But tell me more about that.
Peter: Well, basically, the reason why Eimskip moved to Portland was basically a simple business decision. We had been looking for an opportunity to find a future place in New England. Eimskip has been sailing … Our first sailing to the US was in 1915. We had called on ports like New York, Richmond, Norfolk, Boston. Two years ago we were still sailing to Norfolk. There was pre-dominantly started because of … We started there because there was a Navy base in Iceland and we moved a lot of goods for the Navy to Iceland. That’s why we went down to Norfolk.
Then we went to Everett in Massachusetts, in Boston. In the Boston area. We needed to find a way to cut down on, or just reduce this to one port-o-call in the US. We looked at other options. We looked at staying in Everett. We looked at going to another port. Then Portland was here and was ready. We can go over the story a little bit, if you want me to continue just telling you about that. Well, so the state of Maine had invested a lot of money and a lot of effort into providing or creating the facility that you see today. Of course, they had been trying to find customers so to speak.
We had been looking at another port that was south of Boston and then Portland came up. They actively pursued to get Eimskip here and we came here and saw the infrastructure was good. The port was more or less ready for us. Of course, they were ready and willing to do some more infrastructure changes. We do move a lot of temperature controlled cargo, so that needed to be facilitated with electrical plugs, et cetera. And some changes with warehousing and other stuff. When all that was said and done, it was a perfect match for us. It was good for a little small niche carrier like we are. We decided to start selling here in March of 2013.
Lisa: I believe that the Scotia Prince used to run from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. That was the big ferry dock. I remember when they did put all of this investment into the Scotia Prince ferry terminal and then the Scotia Prince left and stopped going back and forth. Clearly it was important for Portland to bring business to its waterfront. How is it that a company from Iceland would find out about Portland, Maine?
Peter: Well, all ports, they go to shows and they advertise. It’s not a big world, so to speak. When we had actually had one experience of coming here way back in 2007, if I remember. That was with service that basically was for, we were assisting another entity. That didn’t work out. Then it was a totally different situation there. I mean, we were changing our network. We were looking for shorter, or a way to move our freight faster and shorter to Europe and to Iceland. We were looking for a way to open up new possibilities for us to gain access to a market where we could grow the so-called Trans Atlantic business.
Portland was just fit for that. There’s huge growth potential here for us. We came here with our current freight. We were not here because we needed to find some business. We already had our current business. We stayed with that volume and have grown. Our plan is to grow even further. But the main why we went here was that Eimskip wanted to find that place, find the place in New England. We wanted to shorten our transit time. We wanted to be more competitive on the Trans Atlantic market, and therefore be able to increase our volume.
In regards to our transit time to Iceland, it was very important that we were going to reduce that. To provide the Icelandic market with better service. Portland was ready with all the infrastructure. It was willing to work with us and we just thought it was a fascinating place to start in.
Lisa: What is the difference between going from Iceland to say Norfolk and Iceland and Portland? What’s the difference in transit time or distance?
Peter: Well, it takes about a day and a half or two days to sail down to Norfolk. Something like that. It’s quite a distance. Also in Norfolk, Norfolk is a very large port. It’s in the center of, so to speak, in the center of the north east coast. A very large hub. Eimskip is a small carrier. With our network in the North Atlantic, sailing up the coast, up to Canada as well, up to Iceland and then connected there to the North European market, it basically didn’t allow us any real chance of getting any Trans Atlantic freight that was non-Icelandic related.
That on top of us sailing down there cost a lot of money. So we needed to find another place. So that’s the reason really.
Lisa: What I’m hearing then is that Portland was attractive because it is closer. It doesn’t take as long to get across the Atlantic. And also it’s smaller. You were able to more immediately have access to transportation that would get your goods to other places?
Peter: Well, basically, as well, if you look at Maine and you see where Maine is, then you notice that if you are exporting out of Maine, you have a few options. You have an option to move your freight down to Boston or you have an option to move your freight down to New York or up to Montreal. I mean, that just gives you a little bit of an idea that putting a container ship here, providing access to 350 million plus market in Europe, is going to be very cost effective for Maine businesses.
The cost of in-land transportation in the US is high. We reduce that. We also provide access to a market that was maybe not accessible because of the fact that the freight needed to go down to New York and be transported for a lot of money. It costs a lot of money to move a full container down to New York for example. What we are now providing is that we’re providing service for Maine companies let’s say to Rotterdam or [Hamford 00:12:53], giving you immediate access to like we say a 350 million people market. With the cost that is maybe comparable with moving your freight down somewhere south.
Meaning, if you’re just looking at the domestic market. If you’re just looking at the domestic market, now you all of a sudden see, OK, well, now we have maybe a chance to sell our produce overseas. We can be more competitive because our cost is less. Now we can compete with somebody that might be closer to the other major ports. That’s a huge opportunity for main and main companies. They’ve already started exploiting that. Not, exploiting, that’s not a correct word. They’ve already started, they’re seeing the benefits and are moving with us.
Lisa: Tell me what types of things you’re bringing over from Iceland or from Europe and what types of things you’re bringing over from Maine? What types of things are going back and forth?
Peter: Well, we do a lot of temperature controlled cargo. Most of the cargo, if we talk about in-bound then it’s not just coming from Iceland. It’s Trans Atlantic freight. It’s coming from Northern Europe. It’s coming from Scandinavia. We do move a large volume of fish from Norway. We actually do move a large volume of containers that are filled with chocolate from Germany. That’s temperature controlled, so we go from minus, now I’m going to speak in Celsius, minus 24 degrees Celsius to 14 degrees Celsius. We can control the temperature in our containers.
We do move quite a bit of water from Iceland. That is two brands. Iceland Glacial and Iceland Spring. I think they’re good volume. Then other goods. We’ve been just now moving some equipment for the ski resorts around here. We’ve been doing that for the past months on every vessel. Equipment for breweries and other raw materials from Iceland that are going further down, maybe into Chicago and to Ohio. We move that by rail from here. There’s all kinds of products.
Out of Maine, Icelanders are starting to buy from Maine. We’ve seen a huge increase in that. Especially the retail stores in Iceland. They are purchasing products here in Maine. They’re purchasing from wholesalers or from companies here. Then we’ve been moving quite a bit of blueberries, just recently. I think they were kind of … I think the blueberry market fluctuates, where they’re selling the products, et cetera. But we have high hopes for that. Maine blueberries are of course, they’re very good. I like them.
As well as other products from Maine producers. I really don’t want to talk about any companies specifically or anything like that. But we see a steady growth and today, to tell you the truth, these last two weeks, we’ve been more or less swamped with [inaudible 00:16:55] requests and questions about our services. It’s been really busy and we have really high hopes that the volumes out of Maine and into Maine for Maine companies will increase quite a bit in the next months.
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Lisa: How does Maine compare to Iceland as far as the type of people living there? The climate? What is it about Maine that is so interesting to people from Iceland or people from Europe? Why would they buy things like blueberries? Or Maine products?
Peter: The Maine blueberries, you know, if you try them, they kind of sell themselves. You just have to get that first taste. They’re absolutely fabulous. I mean, Eimskip is not just an Icelandic company. We’re Scandinavian. We’re all over the world. We have offices in China. We have offices in Vietnam and all over Europe and Sweden, Denmark, in Norway. We have a large operation in Norway actually. We do operate vessels on the coast of Norway. All the way up to Russia, to [inaudible 00:20:08].
We have offices in the UK. We have offices in Germany. In Belgium. In Holland. In France. In Spain. In Italy. In Portugal. I can keep on counting. There’s quite a bit of operation all over the world. Of course, being from, or us being a Scandinavian company really, I mean or a European company and Scandinavian is that yes, Maine is attractive to us after we’ve come here and started to understand it. I mean, there’s similarities.
People are close. I think compared to other states maybe, they’re a little bit closer to us than somebody from maybe Texas. You know. Obviously because you’re closer really, you are. And you’re in the North Atlantic. You’re used to a harsher environment, et cetera. I think those are similarities that I think are … People are nice here. I really do think that it’s a great environment. That’s basically, I think that connection is because of the ocean, because of being in the north, used to the cold weather, the ways that we do … How we make it nice. Keep the lights up and hot stove and it’s similar over there. I think those are the similarities, if I can point some out.
Lisa: How has it been for you coming over here and working in Maine?
Peter: For me, it’s been great. I actually moved from New York. I’d been living in Long Island, New York for about eight years. Basically I didn’t move from Europe. I didn’t come from Iceland directly into Maine. But the transition, the change to come up here from New York was really interesting and I really liked it. I think the city surprised me. I wasn’t expecting such a lively place, really. The restaurants here, and I need to explore more of the culture. Of course, I’ve only been here a year and a half, or something like that.
Most of the time has been focused on work. Still we’ve had the pleasure of enjoying the great culture and the great restaurants in Maine. And in Portland especially. Skiing and the outdoors a little bit.
Lisa: Well, we appreciate the work that you’re doing to help our Maine economy, which I know is only going to be helpful to the economy of Iceland, Scandinavia, and the other ports-o-call around the world that you’ve described Eimskip being involved with. How can people find out about Eimskip and the work that you’re doing?
Peter: We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been in the news quite a bit over here and so companies have seen us and people have seen what we’re about. We’ve been active in getting our word out. We’ve had the absolute fantastic support from [mid-see 00:23:52], the Port Authority, from the governor, from the city of Portland, all over. Everything has been positive. Individuals that have been working really hard within those organizations that have done a fantastic job of getting us established or out there. Things like what’s happening in regards to, for example, in [mid-see 00:24:25] …
Lisa: Maine North Atlantic Development Office.
Peter: The North Atlantic Development Office is looking at a lot of opportunities for Maine businesses in the North Atlantic. There’s a lot of things that people don’t know that are opening up and happening in the North Atlantic. It’s not just cold and gloomy. There’s business opportunities there. That and trade missions to Europe and to Iceland, to the UK, we were participants in that. Other things that have happened … We for example last year, we threw a little bit of a Christmas party. We decided to have a Christmas party on, I think it was the middle of November, and the date was the 6th of December, and we had 300 people.
We decided to support the Center for [inaudible 00:25:34] Children. We were able then to raise about $35,000 to $40,000 for the Center for [inaudible 00:25:40] Children. 300 people. Took a lot of effort for two weeks, actually, to plan all this. It worked perfectly. We are doing the same on the 12th of December. We’re actually having a party for our customers and for not only our customers, but customers, or our vendors.
Customers and people in the area. Of course, by invitation, so it’s not an open party. We call it a party. It is a party. We’re trying to have fun and at the same time, give back to the community. Eimskip does that everywhere. We do that very strongly in Iceland and we’ve started doing that here. We have high hopes for this year in regards to the money we’ll raise for the charity.
Lisa: Peter I’m really impressed with the work that Eimskip is doing and the work that you’ve been doing. People who would like to read more about Eimskip can read the article by Sophie Nelson in Old Port Magazine, which is Commerce, Culture, and Connection: Icelandic Shipping Company Eimskip Makes Portland Its North American Home and Maine Shifts Its View to the North Atlantic. So I hope people will take the time to do that and to find out more about the work that you’re doing. As someone who has lived in Maine a long time, I really appreciate all of the opportunities that you’re bringing to our state and I hope that our state can continue to reciprocate.
Thanks so much for coming in and being on Love Maine Radio. We’ve been speaking with Peter Peterson, Skip’s Portland Station Manager.
Peter: Thank you.
Lisa: As a physician and small business owner, I rely on Marci Booth from Booth Maine to help me with my own business and to help me live my own life fully. Here are a few thoughts from Marci.
Marci: When was the last time you took a break from what you were doing? From the work that was piled up on your desk and just looked up? I know that during the course of my days, I often forget to take a moment or two to just breathe, look up at the sky, and dream. Terrible that I have to remind myself to breathe, but when I do, I feel energized. Because in those moments, I’m able to let go of the daily grind and think more about what I want to accomplish, how I want my business to grow.
Sometimes those are the aha moments. If we all took a few moments out each day to stop what we were doing and dream a little about our business futures, not only would we feel a great sense of calm, but we may come to realize that these dreams can in fact come true. I’m Marci Booth. Let’s talk about the changes you need. Booth Maine.com.
Speaker 11: This segment of Love Maine Radio is brought to you by the following generous sponsors. Mike LaPaige and Beth Franklin of ReMax Heritage in Yarmouth, Maine. Honesty and integrity can take you home. With ReMax Heritage, it’s your move. Learn more at RHeritage.com.
Lisa: Those of us who have lived in Maine for a while, or even haven’t lived in Maine for very long, are interested in ways in which we can push Maine out there as a wonderful place to live. A great place to raise a family. And also a place to have a sustainable life. Meaning, a job and a worthwhile career. In Love Maine Radio studio today, we have Janine Cary, is is President and State Director of International Trade at the Maine International Trade Center, and Dana Eidsness, who is the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office.
We’re really grateful that you took the time out of your busy schedules to come in and talk to us today. I’m particularly fascinated because even though I am a doctor, and I think about health and wellness from sort of a body focused way, really in order to have a well life, a healthy life, you have to have a good job. You have to be able to live in a sustainable way wherever you are. We’re talking about Maine. Both of you are very interested in this and also interested in what this means as far as outreach.
How we are connecting with other parts of the world in order to make it possible to live in a sustainable way within our state. Janine, let me talk first with you. What does it mean to be President and State Director of International Trade at the Maine International Trade Center? What is that your role entails?
Janine: Sure. Well, I think that you addressed some of that in terms of connectivity with global markets. We basically at the trade center help Maine companies connect, whether it’s on the import side, the export side. We work also in terms of business attraction and investment. One of our new initiatives in the last few years is Invest in Maine. Getting Maine on the map in terms of overseas markets. Then we also have Study Maine, which is about international student attraction.
If you add all of those up, it really is all about basically getting Maine recognized as a global player on the economic side and also as an important place in terms of representing the US and being open to international groups.
Lisa: Dana, you’ve been in your position for about a year now. What is it that you do as the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office, and how is this related to the work that Janine is doing?
Dana: Well, it’s similar in some ways. But I get to focus on a region, which is what I love about my job at this point. I’m focusing on Northern Europe, the Nordic companies, eastern Canada, Iceland, and Greenland. What I really like about this position is it enables me to develop relationships in each of these places and then return to them. For instance, we were just invited to a conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. Invited by the President of Iceland, President Grimsson, and at that conference I met with people I’ve been corresponding with for the past year and can now actually call the past Prime Minister of Greenland a friend. Someone who cares deeply about doing business with Maine. Wants to see success.
It’s these types of relationships that I’m building. What’s a little bit different about my program is I am working to increase trade and investment activity between Maine and the North Atlantic region, but I’m also working to define Maine’s space in the conversation about Arctic affairs. You may hear in the news that climate change is very real and the Arctic ice is melting rapidly, which is making mineral deposits, oil and gas reserves that were inaccessible before, now quite accessible.
There’s a bit of a rush to go after these natural resources. Where I see Maine in this situation is logistically we’re in a good place to serve any projects that are going on. We have climate science to contribute from our universities. We have companies that have expertise in things like technologies for harsh weather environments, that sort of thing. I’m working to connect Maine companies with some for the infrastructure projects that are going on.
Lisa: Janine, how is Maine viewed by the world? What is your impression of the brand that Maine puts out there?
Janine: Well, I think it depends on what part of the world you’re talking about. Certainly we have some recognition in Europe, particularly northern Europe. A lot of that is because of old trade lanes and routes. Typically they know, if you go over to Europe, particularly UK markets, as I said northern European markets, they’ll know New England. They’ll know New York. They’ll know Boston. And generally what I have to say is we’re about two hours north of Boston for our largest city.
There is recognition for Maine lobster. I mean, all the things we talk about, there’s recognition on the tourism side. There’s not a lot of recognition on what are some of our major industry areas. When you go to Asia, and Latin America, even less. In fact I’ve had sometimes people ask me if Maine is a province of Canada. You have to always start out with the base thought that there’s not a lot that comes with the name Maine yet. It really, a lot of that depends on how much marketing has gone on to date in terms of usually tourism, food products, things like that.
But usually we’re starting fairly from scratch, which actually can be pretty refreshing as well.
Lisa: In our discussion with Peter Peterson from Eimskip, it was clear that one of the reasons that that company was attracted to Portland as a port was economic. Maine is closer, it actually is costing less to get goods back and forth. There was some very real strategic reasons for locating here. This is something that you alluded to. Old trade routes. This is something that we have had in the past. We have been connected with the rest of the world previously in ways that maybe people from Maine don’t understand.
Janine: Sure. I mean I think that a few things, when you’re talking about economic. I also think that people like John Hanshaw at Maine Port Authority did a great job in terms of developing that port and having it ready and turn key for a shipping line like Eimskip to come in. You do have to have the infrastructure in place to accommodate trade. I would say that for a few years in there we had let some of that infrastructure go awry or not be putting money and resources into that.
I think that was a turning point. I also think that yes, as things were getting more expensive at some of the other ports and as they will start building up again now that we’re getting further away from the financial crisis, you’re going to have a lot of congestion in some of the ports to the south of us and that made it a much more attractive alternative when Eimskip was out looking and we were courting a number of different groups to be looking at the port and what we have for capacities here.
Lisa: Dana, what did you do before you became the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office? Tell us a little bit about your background.
Dana: Sure. I grew up in Maine and I have worked at the Maine International Trade Center before. I joke that this is my third tour at the Trade Center. I worked there years ago as a trade specialist. Then went on to work for the Maine manufacturing extension partnership. Then returned to the Trade Center and ran the [Lewis and Auburn 00:37:38] regional office at that time. Then went to Vermont and I was actually the State Trade Director in the state of Vermont. Did some other things between then and now, including running a non-profit.
When this opportunity came up, it was very appealing. Again, the regional focus was very appealing to me.
Lisa: The reason that I ask this is because we talk about Maine’s lumber, blueberries, lobster. But we also have Maine people. As you said, you grew up in Maine. You have a BA in International Studies. You have studied Chinese language. I mean, you’ve been to other parts of the world. Yet, you came back to Maine to try to globalize the state. This is important for people to understand that they don’t have to get an education somewhere else and then leave. They can come back and work here and succeed.
Dana: Right. I think the foundation for my international interests started here in Maine. I went to Portland High School and was exposed to a lot of international information. I took several languages while I was there. Chinese was my favorite, so that’s the one I stuck with. I was able to take international history courses. It really started here. I think certainly at that time in the 80s there was a large international population at Portland high school, which got me interested about other places as well. My family is here, too.
I did go to school in California, but came back because I missed my family. My mom still lives on [inaudible 00:39:18] hill in the apartment where I grew up and my sister is on the west end.
Lisa: Janine, you’ve also been affiliated with Maine for quite some time. Tell me about your background.
Janine: Well, I am technically an import, as I qualify myself. Basically I grew up in northern coastal Massachusetts. Had been coming up to Maine quite a bit with my husband, whose family had been coming here for many years. Had a place out on Peak’s Island. After living the rat race in downtown Boston for a while, and we were ready to make a change once he was out of school, we decided let’s make a go for it in Maine. He did have a job, so that was good at the time. I was the unknown and had been actually involved in international trade in Boston before. It was a little challenging back then to find companies that … Really there were only the large companies like the L.L. Beans and Cole Haan of the time.
I remember applying to all of them and wondering if I was going to be able to land something that utilized my background and skills, which at that time were focused mostly around Europe. I was working for an Italian import company and ended up, that was right when we started to have more and more of the seafood industry that was going global. Fell into a seafood export company that was looking to grow in Europe. It was a great fit and I grew along with them in terms of their outreach in China.
We were probably one of the first into China on the US side. Certainly on the East Coast side. Really, I developed my skills hands on in those markets. I had studied in France for a while at the Sorbonne and so I had a comfort level in terms of continental Europe to start with. There’s so much more going on now that’s been really, really fun watching. I’ve been in Maine over 25 years now and watching the transition of us just getting so much more globally active right down to the small enterprises out there that are even just start ups that they look at the global market right from the beginning. That wasn’t the same 20 years ago.
Lisa: You raise a really important point and that is that the trailing spouse. I believe that’s the official term, is the trailing spouse. The spouse of the person who has gotten a job in Maine. It often presents an issue. I know in medicine and in law, if you’re a doctor or a lawyer and you get a job here, what happens to the person that comes with you? In generating jobs for Maine that are more global, you are going to be able to help that aspect of the economy as well. You’ve been able to experience this from the beginning when there weren’t as many of that type of job for the trailing spouse.
Janine: Right. And it is, it still is, a challenge. On our Invest in Maine initiative, when we’re talking to companies like an Eimskip or an [inaudible 00:42:42] or a lot of the international companies that have come and set up shop here, we actually work with them quite a bit. We get called on quite a bit with that trailing spouse issue. Even asking us about educational systems and where are there enclaves that are more open to international students coming in and you want it to be a good fit.
Then what are the opportunities. The nice thing is most of the time, at least the companies we’re working with, the spouses have lived in different places overseas. Have really some great skill sets. It’s a challenge, but I think that actually we’re going in a really good direction in terms of having more diversity and jobs for trailing spouses and opportunities for the students that come in.
Lisa: Education is an important piece. Earlier this fall I worked with CIEE and wrote a piece about CIEE, which is located a few blocks down from us here in Portland. That global connection that is being made between students and teachers and Maine and really all parts of the world. Even in global education Maine is becoming a leader.
Janine: Yeah. Definitely our academies and some of our secondary schools are getting more and more diverse and actually reaching out and bringing in international student populations. I think that … Dana was talking about Portland, which is truly diverse and hasn’t really had to do a lot of outreach. But once you start getting to more rural communities that happens. It’s just I think wonderful in terms of students, particularly in rural communities, that then suddenly have their eyes opened and are meeting people from all different parts of the world. Suddenly the world seems much smaller.
You always will have those contacts to be able to go and visit. You may at some point choose to do some studies there. It’s starting it young, I think, is probably one of the most important things that we do in terms of as a whole economy, feeling comfortable in the global marketplace. I don’t know if you want to add on your experiences there, Dana.
Dana: Well, I’m just thinking about the group that’s coming from Iceland in May of next year. We’ve got a group of 50 MBA students from Reykjavik University coming. It’s interesting how that came about. Actually the head of the student group that’s planning this trip is the president’s cousin. It was through some relationships that we developed in Iceland that this came about. But I think the reason they’re looking at Maine is because it’s an appealing place to set up a potential educational exchange.
They like the feel of Portland. They like the urban feeling of Portland. The ability to have an outdoor, healthy lifestyle in Maine. It’s very easy for us to have connections with folks in place like Iceland. I think that’s true of a lot of places. I think in terms of the younger students, when parents are looking for a place to send their kids to school, they’ll look at Maine and it’s a good choice. It’s a safe place to send their kids. They know they’ll be well educated and they’ll get lots of fresh air and outdoor time.
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Lisa: I’m thinking about my own daughter who’s 13. The other day she was looking at her Instagram account and she was looking at the weather. She was saying, I know the weather in Miami is this, and New York is this. Even through social media and through staying connected with friends that our children make, even at a very young age, we’re starting to understand that the world is much smaller than we thought. We can relate ourselves to people who are living elsewhere. That must actually come in handy as you’re trying to promote Maine throughout the world.
Janine: Absolutely. I mean I have a lot of hope and also really feel strongly that the younger generation that’s coming in right now is very much more globally oriented. I can remember when I first used to go out and talk in schools as I do quite often, at a lot of different levels, the first question I would ask is how many here have been out of the state. How many here have been out of the country. You’d have very few hands raised. It still is quite expensive, however you know, our proximity to Canada, as you go further north and west, those hands raise for a lot of the … Even the Canadian travel, I often say to people, I remember one time when we were throwing out one of those brainstorming crazy ideas, that every junior in the state of Maine should at least go to Canada once.
This is a low hanging fruit of an international experience. You go to downtown Quebec City and you know you’re in a different country, in a different language, in a different feel. That’s our number one trading partner and our number one investor. And, about 30 percent of the population has some Canadian, French-Canadian actually, lineage. I think that the Internet has had such a huge influence on our kids and the laptop initiative, having every kid having access to that, no matter what economic background they’re from really has made a change.
I’ve seen the change in kids around the state. You [can’t 00:50:20] think that Portland is representative of so many parts of the state. It’s really been wonderful to see that evolution over a very short period of time.
Dana: Yeah. I have a seventh grader who was just issued a laptop and she was keeping me updated on volcanic activity in Iceland while I was over there. That was all thanks to the laptop.
Janine: One of the other things I always say along with this laptop initiative, is it actually forced our teachers into the 21st century. Suddenly a kid’s pulling up information on a topic and the world is his or her oyster in terms of what information is relevant to what we’re talking about. It also, really I think, opened up an avenue for a lot of our teachers in terms of doing research on the Internet. Becoming Internet savvy. Connecting. Then we have a very strong internship program at the Trade Center.
I think probably one of the more robust ones in the state of Maine. I still remember when we would get, sometimes we would get interns from overseas. Their Internet skills were so much worse than our Maine students. I said, “Wow.” Now, that’s caught up obviously over time, but I particularly remember some French students coming over and we had to train them how to do research on the Internet and even some of the elementary things, because they were one of the later countries to actually embrace it.
That was another wake up call of this initiative and the fact that our kids are so well-versed on it. Now, we all take it more for granted, but it was really a game changer and really gave some initial advantage to the students coming out of it. I think that you’re just seeing more and more of that playing a role.
Lisa: We’re almost in 2015 and I know that there are a lot of interesting things that have been happening in the global trade and the North Atlantic trade areas. Can you talk to me a little bit about that, Dana?
Dana: Yeah. Some of the things coming up in 2015 on the North Atlantic front are we’ll be looking at some trade shows, probably for off-shore energy companies for the most part in eastern Canada and in potentially northern Europe as well. We’ll be looking to put together a procurement program where we are looking for tendering opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador and Greenland. Specifically looking for opportunities for Maine businesses to supply the Thule air base in Greenland
We’ll be identifying these opportunities and getting them out to businesses throughout the state and then providing some counseling to help them make these connections and make this business happen. There’s some interesting activity going on through the North Atlantic Development Office where, again as I said, we’re working to define Maine space in Arctic affairs and how to be a part of that conversation. We’ve been working with the Arctic Council, which is the inter-governmental forum that looks at what’s going on in the Arctic and addresses issues like climate change, environmental stewardship, shipping, because with the ice melting, it’s creating more passable waterways over the north west passage.
How do we deal with that responsibly? There are a lot of things going on within the Arctic Council and the US is taking over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2015. Maine will be participating in this through a working group called The Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group. I will sit on that working group and will bring in Maine resources as appropriate. As things come up with that. There’s also another organization that’s sort of an offshoot of the Arctic Council, which is the Arctic Economic Council.
That forum is looking to the Arctic Economic Council, which is made up of businesses from all of the Arctic countries. Looking to plant some Maine businesses within that so that they can advise on things like infrastructure projects, responsible shipping, environmental issues, climate science, those sorts of things. Those are areas where I think Maine has a lot to offer.
Lisa: There’s a lot. That’s a lot going on in 2015. Anything that you would add Janine?
Janine: Well, we’ll be also active in a number of other markets outside of the North Atlantic. We have at least two food initiatives that are coming up. We actually have a Maine Pavilion coming up at the Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco, which has a large Pacific Rim buyers mission coming in as part of that. Equal opportunity outreach, both on the national market and international markets. We’ll have a presence at the Brussels Seafood Show, which is a very important one for the state of Maine. Particularly with lobster and our seafood exports.
On the life sciences, we are having a booth at the Arab Health Show in Dubai. Another growing market in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the Middle East in general. Have quite a few medical products, companies that are growing there. We’ll I’m sure be announcing a trade mission over the next 12 months. It hasn’t been discussed yet where exactly we’ll be surveying companies in terms of their activities and watching some trade flows. More to come.
Lisa: How can people find out more about the Maine International Trade Center and the Maine North Atlantic Development Office?
Janine: Well, it’s all listed on the website. Which is MITC.com. We also have an Invest in Maine.net website for business attraction, if people are involved in that. And a Study Maine.net website, which lists all of the high schools and colleges that are involved in terms of international student attractions. Those are our three primary vehicles and the North Atlantic Development Office has its own section within the MITC website.
Lisa: Well, I’m excited about all of the things that you’ve been describing. I’m really proud to be a citizen of the state of Maine. To have my family from this state. I know that the work that you’re both doing is only going to serve to benefit my family, other Maine families, and to really contribute to wellness. I think it’s appropriate that you’d be a part of Love Maine Radio.
We’ve been speaking with Janine Cary who is the President and State Director of International Trade at the Maine International Trade Center. Dana Eidsness, who is the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office. Thank you for coming in and thank you for the good work you’re doing.
Janine: Thank you.
Dana: Pleasure to be here.
Lisa: You have been listening to Love Maine Radio, show number 168. Maine, Iceland, and the World Beyond. Our guests have included Peter Peterson, Janine Cary, and Dana Eidsness. For more information on our guests, and extended interviews, visit Love Maine Radio.com, or read about them in the winter issue of Old Port Magazine. Love Maine Radio is downloadable for free on iTunes.
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We are privileged that they enable us to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Maine, Iceland, and the World Beyond show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. You have a bountiful life.
Speaker 14: Love Maine Radio was made possible with the support of the following generous sponsors. Maine Magazine, Marci Booth of Booth Maine. Apothecary by Design. Mike LaPaige and Beth Franklin of ReMax Heritage. Tom Sheppard of Sheppard Financial. Hardingly Smith of The Rooms. And Bangor Savings Bank. Love Maine Radio with Dr. Lisa Belisle is recorded in the studio of Maine Magazine at 75 Market Street, Portland, Maine. Our executive producers are Kevin Thomas, Susan Grisante, and Dr. Lisa Belisle.
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