Friday at the export company MAC Access in Doral, workers were getting ready to send their next shipment of electronics to the Caribbean and Latin America. Foreign exports keep MAC's 25 workers employed.
Their boss, Max Wullich, was in downtown Miami with other South Florida export and import companies looking to expand their operations.
“Absolutely, you can find someone here today who can help you with logistics, in the same field, and you can make a relation and that’s the most important thing," he said.
NBC Miami was part of this luncheon program to increase trade between South Florida, the islands and Latin America. Business leaders were meeting with Dr. Michael Louis, St. Lucia's Ambassador to the United States.
“It’s a symbolic relationship," Louis explained. "We gain by trading and traveling, you gain as we import your goods and we use your businesses.”
The trade with the Islands and Latin America is one of the lifebloods for South Florida. Over four million passengers board cruise ships for the islands each year, and over 3 million tons of goods leave our ports heading south. The trade creates 160,000 jobs related to exports and an estimated impact of $15 billion to South Florida wallets.
With Florida's economy down, businesses here see expansion with foreign countries the way to go.
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“I think the importance of that is to have people thought the world especially in these hard times because some countries might be doing better than others," says Angela Flora from Orvino Wine Imports.
Dr. Louis says "it’s a win-win situation. By being here, and by continuing to do business with South Florida.”
Louis told the firms here that Caribbean nations are also looking to branch out from traditional tourist industries. The ambassador says as Caribbean nations look to build better hospitals and other facilities and expand their bank operations, much of the material and personnel to make it happen will have to come from South Florida.
That's good news for local workers businesses.
