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Decatur, IL - The Board of Commissioners of the Decatur Park District and the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County (EDC) today announced a new five year agreement authorizing the EDC to act as administrator of the Decatur Foreign Trade Zone.
Authorized by the United States Department of Commerce in early 2000, the Decatur Foreign Trade Zone was established at Decatur Airport with the Decatur Park District being named as the Zone Grantee. The zone request was originally granted to assist a number of Decatur area businesses with their international supply chain strategies. Due to a variety of circumstances relating to international business climate in the past few years, the program has been dormant. Park District and EDC officials have been discussing the improved utilization of the Decatur Foreign Trade Zone since EDC’s reorganization in 2002 and recognized the need for a more aggressive and focused marketing strategy. The agreement approved this week will allow the EDC to have one more tool at its disposal to market the Decatur and Macon County region to prospective manufacturing and distribution companies. With a continuing upsurge in imported raw materials, a number of opportunities are now being presented which will allow area companies to utilize the program to become more profitable in producing finished goods.
Craig Coil, President of the EDC, said “We are excited by the potential of the Foreign Trade Zone. Companies who import raw materials or who assemble imported materials into a finished product will now have the opportunity to cut costs and improve profitability by utilizing the program. Increased corporate profitability means more jobs and greater job stability for our area over the long term. We look forward to working with the Decatur Park District in the coming months and years to promote the Decatur Foreign Trade Zone and to provide benefits not only to our regional employers, but to companies throughout Central Illinois as well.”
Bill Clevenger, Executive Director of the Decatur Park District said, “The District has made a significant investment over the past five years to secure the Foreign Trade Zone designation for our area and with the help of major corporations like Archer Daniels Midland and others, we have also been able to open a United States Customs Port of Entry at the Decatur airport. These are rare amenities for a community our size and for the State of Illinois in general and we hope they will provide Decatur with another advantage in future business attraction efforts”.
Clevenger continued, “The Park District and the EDC have an excellent working relationship and we are pleased to enter into this arrangement to allow EDC to promote the benefits of the zone as a part of its overall business development campaign.” |
