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Registration is open for the 12th Texas-European Union Business Summit, occurring Tuesday, September 26, 2023. The Summit has emerged as the premier Texas forum for connecting the state’s businesses, entrepreneurs, and economic development agencies with trade representatives from nations of the European Union.
“We’re anticipating another exceptional event,” said Doug Biow, Director of the Center for European Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, one of the event’s cosponsors. “We’re bringing back the features and programs we know attendees have appreciated in previous years but there will be new programming and new faces as well.”
The EU is a market of approximately 450 million people with a combined economy of around $14.5 trillion. Those numbers tell only part of the story of what makes Europe so attractive to Texas business. The 27 nations of the EU encompass enormous diversity regarding markets, needs, and comparative advantages.
Texas business and investment has always been outward looking, just as our years as an independent republic have imparted a legacy of proactively pursuing economic ties around the globe. This is at the heart of Texas’ two-decade streak as America’s largest exporter, worth $445 billion in 2022. The Texas-European relationship is a cornerstone of our state’s economic success. Texas is America’s largest exporter to the European Union, while robust investment flowing in both directions creates innovative partnerships which support hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The Texas-EU Business Summit provides businesses with information and connections which help grow that partnership further even as new opportunities and technologies emerge. The summit is not only for corporations and large businesses; it is also for the small and medium-sized enterprises which make up nearly half of all Texas exporters to Europe. “Whether a company of any size, or an individual entrepreneur, you’re going to walk away from the summit with something you can use,” explained Ben Ramirez, executive director of the Center for Global Trade at the World Affairs Council of Austin, also an event cosponsor. “At the same time, we’re also celebrating commercial and historical ties between Texas and Europe.”
Participants in the 2023 event will be briefed by experts on the business climate and opportunities within key EU markets and sectors. They will also have the opportunity to interact and make connections with European trade representatives and European enterprises.
Last year’s summit saw an address by His Excellency Pjer Šimunović, Ambassador of Croatia to the United States, about the essential nature of the Transatlantic Partnership to global peace and prosperity, a deep dive into successfully negotiating cultural differences between European and American workforces, an examination on the current and future impacts of AI on the European economy, the role of Smart Cities in the economy of the future, as well as multiple market access panels.
While detailed profiles of individual sessions will appear in this and future newsletters, highlights of the 2023 summit include:
- Examining the latest trends and developments in EU market access
- The annual cybersceurity panel
- A special examination of business opportunities and conditions in the Czech Republic
- Remarks from Glenn Hamer, president of the Texas Association of Businesses.
- All the market access and networking opportunities you’ve come to expect.
To learn more or to register for the event, visit: https://conferences.la.utexas.edu/texaseusummit/.
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