1. Free Flow of Data.

The ability of companies and consumers to move data where they see fit is essential to American and global economic prosperity.  The United States has consistently called for policies to enable digital trade, promote innovation and entrepreneurship, and empower and protect consumers.  The G-20 embraced this worldview in Hangzhou, expressing its commitment to the free flow of information, ideas, and knowledge across borders—a commitment that underpins the digital economy’s ability to deliver inclusive growth and development. 

2. Multistakeholder Internet Governance.

The Internet is decentralized, cooperative, and layered and needs a similar governance structure to enable the freedom of innovation and freedom of expression that have become its hallmark.  The United States has been a champion of this multistakeholder approach to internet governance, working to fulfill our commitment to reform the internet domain name system so it is privately, efficiently, and fairly managed.  In Hangzhou, the G-20 committed to preserving the global nature of the Internet, and joined the United States in supporting the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance.  

3. Net Neutrality.

One of the most important reasons the Internet has been such an incredible engine for growth and innovation is that most Internet providers have treated Internet traffic equally.  The United States has led an emerging global consensus around this approach, known as “net neutrality,” with the Federal Communications Commission putting in place strong net neutrality rules in 2015.  The G-20 endorsed the principles underlying this consensus, highlighting the need for its members to examine introducing net neutrality policies to prevent anti-competitive blocking, throttling, or prioritization of data by commercial broadband networks.

4. Broadband Opportunity.

Connectivity is a path to greater opportunity. In today’s world, broadband and fluency with technology fuel economic growth, provide access to the world’s knowledge, promote skills development, and build stronger and more connected communities. The G-20 embraced this vision, calling for policies to promote expanded and better broadband access so all citizens can reap its benefits.  The United States has been working at home and abroad to make this vision a reality and bring more people online.  Domestically, the United States is pursuing such policies under the Administration's ConnectED and ConnectAll initiatives. ConnectED is on track to bring high-speed Internet access to 99 percent of America's schools by 2018, and has in just three years closed the connectivity divide in U.S. schools by half. ConnectALL will ensure that 20 million more Americans have access to broadband by 2020 through a new national broadband subsidy starting this year, while the Department of Commerce’s BroadbandUSA program is assisting communities that want to expand broadband access and adoption. Likewise, the G-20 reaffirmed its goal of ensuring the next 1.5 billion people are connected and have meaningful access to the Internet by 2020.  The United States is doing its part to advance this goal through the Global Connect Initiative, working to bring more people around the world online.

5. Intellectual Property.

The United States has tirelessly advocated for high-quality intellectual property systems, recognizing that protecting intellectual property provides important incentives for inventors and creators, helping to drive innovation and growth in the U.S. and world economy.  In Hangzhou, the G-20 agreed, calling for adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights to promote the development of the digital economy.  The G20 also reaffirmed its 2015 commitment that G-20 members should not conduct or support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property. 

6. Strengthening Cybersecurity.

In Hangzhou, the United States continued to show leadership in promoting international cooperation on cybersecurity, as called for in the President’s 2011 International Strategy for Cyberspace.  Promoting cybersecurity in today’s online environment requires a collaborative approach among government and the private sector to encourage innovation and recognize differing needs among actors, not “one-size fits all” technological solutions that risk lock-in and path determinism.  The President’s Executive Order on Promoting Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity endorse a risk-based approach that gives organizations the flexibility to decide how best to secure their systems, using a wide range of standards, innovative products and services available in the marketplace.  The G-20 endorsed this approach in Hangzhou, committing to address security risks, threats, and vulnerabilities in the digital economy, including through application of risk-based cybersecurity standards, guidelines, and best practices.

7.  Transparency and Good Governance.

Open data can serve as fuel for innovation and scientific discovery, and promote more efficient, transparent, and collaborative democracy.  The Administration has implemented policies aimed at helping all Americans reap the benefits of public open data, including the President’s memo on Transparency and Open Government, the Office of Management and Budget’s Open Government Directive, and the President’s Executive Order on Open and Machine Readable Government Information.  The G-20 endorsed similar policies in Hangzhou, calling on members to encourage publication of relevant, publicly available government data, which has the potential to boost new technology, products and services.  Likewise, the G20 members committed to engage in open, transparent, inclusive, evidence-based policy making, to support industry-led standards, and to reduce, eliminate, or prevent unnecessary differences in regulations.

The United States is already implementing these measures at home to enable innovation and entrepreneurship.  We are glad to see a global consensus developing around these policies, with the G-20 establishing them as international best practices, helping ensure that the digital economy can serve as one of the most important drivers of global economic growth and development not just for the United States, but for the entire world.

On December 17, 2014 President Obama made the historic announcement that the United States would no longer be held captive by the past and would instead move toward normalizing relations with the island of Cuba.

This shift in policy was rooted in a fundamental desire to improve the lives of people in both our nations. We want to help the Cuban people connect to the global economy and enjoy a higher standard of living, while also giving the people of the United States an opportunity to learn about a country that is only 90 miles off our shores.

To help us achieve these goals, during the past year we have eliminated certain restrictions on remittances, eased limits on exports and imports to the Cuban private sector, allowed trade in the telecommunication and agriculture sectors, and made changes to facilitate authorized travel to the island.

It will take time for these actions to truly change the lives of the Cuban people. And the impact of our changes will be dependent on steps that the Cuban government takes to reform its economy, update its regulatory system, and provide the people of Cuban the opportunity to build better futures.

Our two governments have made significant progress over the past 365 days. The United States and Cuba have held talks on telecommunications and expanding access to Internet and mobile services for Cuban citizens. While access remains restricted and out of reach for many, more Cubans are getting online today than ever before. We will continue to prioritize and support the unrestricted flow of information in Cuba and between Cuban citizens and the rest of the world.

Last October, we held the first ever U.S.-Cuba Regulatory Dialogue, an engagement designed to open new avenues of cooperation with our Cuban counterparts in order to maximize the positive impact of U.S. regulatory changes. Officials from Commerce, State, and Treasury joined their Cuban counterparts in Havana for two days and came away with new insights into the Cuban economy and regulatory system. We are hopeful this dialogue will continue. If our new regulations are to succeed in empowering Cuban citizens and the nascent Cuban private sector, as well as making it easier for U.S. firms to do business on the island, our bilateral engagement must be sustained.

I had the opportunity to see some of the progress and changes underway in Cuba when I traveled to Havana in October of this year. Most importantly I had the chance to talk face-to-face with a number of senior Cuban officials, some of whom had never met with a representative of the U.S. government. I also spoke with foreign ambassadors posted in Cuba and members of Cuba's emerging private sector. After so many years without relations, building confidence and trust was an essential component of our interactions with Cuban officials. I came away convinced that a policy of engagement will yield benefits that a policy of isolation never could.

Looking ahead, the Obama Administration will continue to strongly support lifting the embargo and urge Congress to take action to repeal it in the near future.  In the meantime, we will continue to support greater economic independence and increased prosperity for the Cuban people.

Today, one year into this new chapter in U.S.-Cuba relations, I am more confident than ever that if we continue taking the necessary steps, over time we can build a more open, collaborative, and prosperous relationship between the people and governments of our two nations.

This week, I had the honor of presenting 45 American companies with the President's “E” and “E” Star Awards, a recognition awarded to U.S. businesses that have made significant contributions to U.S. exports. These awardees, which range from small- and medium- sized businesses to household names, understand the importance of exports to their bottom line, American jobs, and the U.S. economy.

Increasing U.S. exports is a top priority for President Obama and our entire Administration. With our support, America’s private sector made 2014 another record year, selling $2.35 trillion of goods and services to overseas markets. Exports also supported 11.7 million private sector jobs in 2014, an all-time high.

We are achieving these new records because the 300,000 U.S. businesses that export, including our “E” awardees, understand that their competitiveness depends on reaching the 96 percent of the world’s customers who live beyond our borders. They are companies like Vac Pac, a family-owned business in Baltimore, whose company first won the “E” Award in 1966. Their “E” Star recognition 50 years later is a reflection of their consistent contributions to U.S. export growth.

We also honored household names like Harley Davidson, which has exported their iconic motorcycles for over a century.

We recognized a truly global company named Tuleu Consulting, a distributor of John Deere equipment, whose entire customer base is overseas.

The success of our “E” awardees is a reminder that there are markets all over the world for U.S.-made goods and services. For example, the Asia-Pacific region is currently home to 570 million middle class consumers; by 2030, that number is expected to reach 3.2 billion. The Obama Administration and the Department of Commerce want to create new opportunities to help American businesses take advantage of tremendous market opportunities.

One way we can keep U.S. businesses competitive, continue strengthening our economy, and solidify our country’s global economic leadership is through new free trade agreements. To complete these agreements, Congress must pass trade promotion legislation, which establishes a process to negotiate – and for Congress to consider – new trade deals. At the same time, trade promotion legislation outlines Congressional priorities for the Administration to follow on these agreements. The passage of trade promotion authority is critical to the completion and implementation of strong new trade agreements that will strengthen our economy, level the playing field for our businesses and workers around the world, and promote American values.

We want businesses of all sizes to experience the same success from exports as our “E” award recipients, and the Department of Commerce has many resources to assist U.S. businesses in this goal. Our U.S. Export Assistance Center teams can work with businesses to identify the best markets for their products, develop and implement effective strategies to enter new markets, and provide assistance in securing trade finance available through different programs. Our Foreign Commercial Service members are experts in countries across the globe and can support American businesses as they expand into new global markets.

Ed. note: This is cross-posted on the U.S. Department of Commerce's blog. See the original post here.

In my first year as Secretary, one of my proudest moments was welcoming international investors to the 2013 SelectUSA Investment Summit. Alongside President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, we made it clear that America is “Open for Business.”

As 2015 begins, we are moving full speed ahead with registration for the second SelectUSA Investment Summit, which will take place in the D.C. metro area on March 23-24, 2015.

In November, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released new data showing why efforts to attract international investment are so important. U.S. affiliates of foreign firms employed 5.8 million people in the United States in 2012. These companies spent $48 billion on U.S. research and development, and they exported nearly $344 billion worth of goods manufactured in the United States. In 2013, the United States attracted $231 billion in FDI, up from $170 billion in 2012.

There has never been a better time to consider establishing or expanding operations in the United States, and it is clear that investors recognize the opportunities that America offers. We are home to an attractive consumer market, a thriving culture of innovation, and a talented workforce. The U.S. economic recovery is outshining others, and investors are increasingly confident. In fact, A.T. Kearney’s 2014 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index said, “the United States tops the index for the second year in a row,” with the highest net positive rating in the index’s 16-year history.

The 2015 SelectUSA Investment Summit aims to build on the tremendous success of the inaugural event, which connected investors from 60 countries with representatives from nearly every U.S. state and territory. At this year’s Summit, economic development organizations (EDOs) from across the United States will once again gather to showcase investment opportunities to companies from around the world. This event will bring together the tools, information, and connections companies need to grow their business here. The two-day summit will include many sessions with high-profile CEOs, breakout panels with practical tools for investors, one-on-one matchmaking meetings, and pitches on the trade show floor.

Given the incredible interest in the first event, we are doubling the size of the Summit and adding some new features, including a pre-Summit SelectUSA Academy that will cover the basics for first-time investors and the fundamentals of attracting FDI for economic developers. We are also including sessions on rural investment, infrastructure investment, and other new features like robust online matchmaking and a more expansive trade show floor.

U.S. economic development organizations and companies that are interested in establishing operations in the United States – including reshoring and foreign investment – can learn more at the SelectUSA Summit website.

The SelectUSA team stands by to assist with investments at any time. Learn more about their services at www.SelectUSA.gov.

SelectUSA is the U.S. government-wide program, housed within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to facilitate investment into the United States.

The Obama administration launched the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership initiative in 2013 to build on the momentum in manufacturing we have seen over the last several years. Since February 2010, the manufacturing sector has created over 700,000 jobs and has grown nearly twice as fast as the overall economy. And with weekly hours in manufacturing at their highest since World War II, the sector appears poised for more jobs and growth, helping make the United States more competitive today than it has been in decades.

The Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership is an initiative that aims to spur communities to develop integrated, long-term economic development strategies that sharpen their competitive edge in attracting global manufacturers and their supply chains to our local communities -- increasing investment and creating jobs. Specifically, the program brings together the resources of multiple federal departments and agencies to support strong local economic development plans.

At the first-ever Summit, the 12 communities designated "manufacturing communities" under the first Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership national competition shared best practices and an update on the hard work underway in their communities to strengthen manufacturing with other communities looking to grow their own manufacturing sectors. 

Building on the strength of their local economic development strategies in manufacturing, the 12 communities are attracting new public and private investments in their communities, including over $100 million in new federal economic development investments. For instance, Southern California's designation as a manufacturing community helped Chaffey College secure a $15 million grant from the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education to create an advanced manufacturing training center, which will train workers for the highly technical, highly skilled jobs needed to grow the industry and the economy of the region. The Puget Sound Regional Council, as part of an effort led by the state of Washington, was awarded a $4.3 million grant from the Department of Defense to transition Washington state's defense-sector advanced manufacturing capabilities over to new applications.

Wichita State University in Kansas received a grant from the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration to purchase laboratory equipment to explore new techniques for advanced manufacturing that could have untold implications for innovation down the road. And the Department of Transportation has made infrastructure investments aimed at spurring local economic development and access to jobs in Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership communities across the country -- including $20 million to upgrade and expand the Port of Seattle.

We are launching the second round of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership competition to build on these successes and replicate them in 12 more communities across the country. Designated communities will receive a dedicated federal point of contact and additional consideration for over $1.3 billion in aligned federal economic development funding.

Information on how to apply will be posted at EDA.gov in the coming weeks.

We heard from several applicants in the last round that the process of applying itself spurred partners from across their communities to come together to develop a shared vision and strategy for growth was helpful, despite not receiving a designation. We hope that those communities will reapply and be joined by others.

The success of Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership is measured not by the number of designations, but by the number of communities inspired to create effective partnerships, manage their supply chain, and build a skilled workforce in order to grow their region's economy. The country's economy is built on a foundation of local successes -- and it is through the strengths of local communities that we will compete for and win future growth in manufacturing.

AMP -- led by its co-chairs, Dow’s Andrew Liveris and MIT’s Rafael Reif -- presented its final report with a set of new recommendations, and we discussed additional policy steps we’re taking to respond to them.

The President created AMP -- a working group of 19 leaders in industry, academia, and labor -- in June 2011 as part of his continuing effort to maintain the competitive edge on emerging technologies and invest in the future of our manufacturing sector. We’ve come a long way since then, and the policies fueled by AMP’s recommendations have been a big contributor to that progress.

When the President first launched AMP, unemployment was at 9.1 percent. We were just starting to see some fragile signs of life in the manufacturing sector after more than a decade of erosion. But not many shared our view that together we could build a foundation to revitalize American manufacturing or that manufacturing could continue to play a central role in our economy and our ability to innovate.

Contrast that picture to today. Growth has steadily strengthened and recently accelerated, with GDP rising 2.6 percent over the past year, faster than the 2.0 percent annualized pace of the preceding two years. Job growth is accelerating too. Unemployment is now down to 5.9 percent, falling 1.3 percentage points in the last year.

"After more than a decade of job losses, we’ve added more than 700,000 manufacturing jobs over nearly five straight years of job growth."

Our manufacturing sector is getting stronger too. After more than a decade of job losses, we’ve added more than 700,000 manufacturing jobs over nearly five straight years of job growth. Those jobs lead to others along the supply chain and in local communities. U.S. manufacturing is now growing at nearly twice the rate of the economy, the longest sustained period of outpacing the overall economy since the 1960s.

Last year, for the first time since 2001, the U.S. was ranked first in a survey of business leaders as a destination for investment, a ranking we repeated this year. In another recent study, 54 percent of American manufacturers with operations overseas reported they are considering bringing manufacturing back to the United States. 

And AMP has been central in getting us here.

AMP helped change the dialogue about manufacturing, by elevating the focus on manufacturing’s central role in our economy and its potential. It built on our substantial competitive positioning, and it understood how the knowledge and know-how that comes from making things fuels our pipeline of innovation.

AMP’s final report, released this week, includes new recommendations to address three key pillars that support American manufacturing: innovation, the talent pipeline, and the business climate. To support these recommendations and further strengthen American manufacturing, the President is taking new executive actions that will target these areas, so the U.S. remains a magnet for good jobs and investment.

To enable innovation, we’re announcing $300 million in investments in three technologies critical to our manufacturing competitiveness -- advanced materials including composites and bio-based materials, advanced sensors for manufacturing, and digital manufacturing. And we’re taking steps to connect industry and universities on research and development as well as develop ‘technology testbeds’ within Federal research facilities where companies can design, prototype, and test a new product or process. These investments will sow the seeds for tomorrow’s breakthroughs.

To grow the talent pipeline, this fall, the Department of Labor will launch a $100 million American Apprenticeships Grant Competition to spur new models and scale effective apprenticeships in high-growth fields like advanced manufacturing. AMP members Dow, Alcoa, and Siemens have launched apprenticeship pilots and a “how-to” guide for other employers looking to use apprenticeship as a proven training strategy.

And to close the innovation gap between smaller and larger firms, we’re helping small manufacturers upgrade their supply chain to the latest technologies. The Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which serves over 30,000 U.S. manufacturers each year, will build new capabilities at its state-based centers and pilot a competition for $130 million over five years across ten states to help small manufacturers adopt new technologies and bring new products to market.

"Sustained partnership between leaders in the private sector, labor, academia, and government can bear fruit -- creating good ideas that are both visionary and doable."

These new investments build on previous actions the President has taken since AMP first gathered in 2011. In response to AMP’s first report, President Obama has already launched four manufacturing innovation institutes with four more on the way, which will bring us to more than halfway to our goal of 15; invested $1 billion to upgrade job-training programs at our community colleges; expanded investments in applied research for emerging, cross-cutting manufacturing technologies; and launched a new initiative to deploy the talent of returning veterans to in-demand jobs, including in advanced manufacturing.

This progress was an excellent example of how sustained partnership between leaders in the private sector, labor, academia, and government can bear fruit -- creating good ideas that are both visionary and doable. We look forward to continuing to make progress in the areas AMP identified as the capstone of their work on Monday and the continued strengthening of our manufacturing sector as a central pillar of our economy for years to come.

The Obama Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce today released two new reports that further prove exports are strengthening our economy and creating good jobs. I am very pleased that for the very first time, our department has released data detailing the number of jobs supported by goods exports in 2013 in each of the 50 states. A second report released today highlights the level of goods exports achieved by each of the nation's 387 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Back in 2010, President Obama launched the first-ever national strategy to increase exports, the National Export Initiative (NEI), with the idea that American businesses could lead our economic recovery by selling more of their goods and services to markets all over the world. The NEI has been a remarkable success. The United States has broken export records for four straight years, hitting an all-time high of $2.3 trillion last year, up $700 billion from 2009. And just four years after NEI was launched, we know that 1.6 million more Americans have export-supported jobs, bringing the total to 11.3 million Americans who wake up every day and go to work in jobs supported by exports.

Today’s new data show more evidence of the NEI’s success. The first report released today, Jobs Supported by Goods Exports from States in 2013, breaks down the national total of jobs supported by good exports in 2013, 7.1 million, into estimates of the number of jobs in each state that are supported by goods exports. Texas exports supported more jobs – an estimated 1.1. million – than were supported by the exports from any other single state. Data show that goods exports from Texas, California, Washington, Illinois and New York supported an estimated 3 million jobs, or 43 percent of all U.S. jobs supported by exports in 2013.

The second report, U.S. Metropolitan Area Exports in 2013, is one we at the Department of Commerce produce annually. It shows that U.S. metropolitan areas exported more than $1.4 trillion in goods to the world in 2013, accounting for 90 percent of all U.S. exports. The report details the export levels achieved by individual metropolitan areas in 2013, and shows that 208 of 387 Metropolitan Statistical Areas -- or MSAs -- reported increases in their goods exports over the previous year. Houston topped metropolitan area rankings for a second consecutive year with $115 billion in goods exports. The Seattle, Washington area reported the largest dollar growth in exports in 2013 -- $6.4 billion over the previous year.

Both reports show the positive momentum we have when it comes to increasing our exports from cities, metropolitan areas, and states across the country. As I have traveled across the country talking to more than 1,200 business leaders and more than one-third of Fortune 500 CEOs, I have felt this momentum and seen examples of companies both large and small that have made exporting a fundamental part of the way they do business. In places like Albuquerque, Youngstown, Detroit, and Kansas City, nearly all post-recession growth has been driven by exports. Many businesses believe exports have been a lifeline through this economic recovery.

But there is more we can do to build on this success, generate even more economic growth, and support more American jobs through exports.

To that end, I was pleased in May to launch the next phase of the National Export Initiative, called NEI/NEXT. The goal of this new initiative is to help broaden and deepen our exporter base, and help more American businesses of all sizes export to more overseas markets where 95 percent of potential customers live.

Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed rule that would—for the first time—allow work authorization for the spouses of H-1B workers who have begun the process of applying for a green card through their employers. Once enacted, this proposed rule would empower these spouses to put their own education and skills to work for the country that they and their families now call home.  This rule change was requested in a “We the People” petition to the White House.

At the same time, DHS is also proposing another new rule to make it easier for outstanding professors and researchers in other countries to demonstrate their eligibility for the EB-1 visa, a type of green card reserved for the world’s best and brightest. Just as great athletes and performers are already able to provide a range of evidence to support their petition for an EB-1, professors and researchers would be able to present diverse achievements such as groundbreaking patents or prestigious scientific grants.

These measures build on continuing Administration efforts to streamline existing systems, eliminate inefficiency, and increase transparency, such as by the launch of Entrepreneur Pathways, an online resource center that gives immigrant entrepreneurs an intuitive way to navigate opportunities to start and grow a business in the United States.

These actions promise to unleash more of the extraordinary contributions that immigrants have always made to America’s economy. By some estimates, immigration was responsible for one-third of the explosive growth in patenting in past decades, and these innovations contributed to increasing U.S. GDP by 2.4 percent. Immigrants represent 50 percent of PhDs working in math and computer science and 57 percent of PhDs working in engineering, and one study found that 26 percent of all U.S.-based Nobel laureates over the past 50 years were foreign born. 

Immigrants are also overrepresented in the ranks of America’s entrepreneurs, as they are more than twice as likely as the native-born to start a business in the United States. Immigrants started one of every four small businesses and high-tech startups across America, and more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies—from GE and Ford to Google and Yahoo!—were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants. 

While today’s executive actions are an important step in the right direction, only Congress can offer permanent solutions to fix our broken immigration system and ensure that immigration pathways for foreign entrepreneurs and talented workers are clear and consistent, and better reflect today's business realities.

Last June, the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would significantly grow our economy and shrink the deficit. It is imperative that the House of Representatives do its part to send a bill to the President’s desk, as the costs of inaction are considerable. Among the many other benefits of commonsense immigrant reform, we need legislation that will keep talented scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs here in America instead of compelling them to go back home and compete against us.

When President Obama and I met last month with the new Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship, these top entrepreneurs spoke passionately about the contributions of immigrants and the importance of immigration reform for growing our economy. This group of successful American businesspeople who have committed to sharing their expertise to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs at home and abroad agreed that we undermine our economic competitiveness when we make it harder, not easier, for talented immigrants to stay here and contribute to our economy.

You can watch the video featuring inaugural Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship below, or on YouTube: 

Lufthansa Technik, a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany-based Lufthansa AG, is making a significant new investment in Puerto Rico to build a maintenance, repair, and operations facility. Thanks to the persistent support of the Administration through our SelectUSA investment initiative, local efforts led by Governor Garcia Padilla of Puerto Rico, and the strengths of Puerto Rico’s growing aviation industry, the United States won this new investment despite strong competition.

SelectUSA – launched in 2011 and housed in the Department of Commerce – is the first-ever federal effort to bring job-creating investment from around the world to the United States in partnership with state and local economic development organizations. Today, Ambassador-led teams at our posts overseas directly support foreign investors looking to make investments in the U.S. by providing resources and information, and when needed, connecting them to investment experts at the Department of Commerce and throughout the SelectUSA interagency network. 

Each investor, and investment case, gets tailor-made attention from our case managers at SelectUSA, who rely on ombudsman efforts to answer questions, as well as a sophisticated advocacy network that leverages key Administration officials all the way up to the President of the United States. Lufthansa is a perfect example of our coordinated efforts to bring job-creating investment here to the United States. In addition to Vice President Biden and the Secretary of Commerce and her team, SelectUSA involved other key federal officials, and coordinated with several federal agencies to provide the needed assistance to secure the project. And, when it came time to seal the deal, SelectUSA coordinated an effort across the federal government, including the support of the President’s Taskforce on Puerto Rico, to present Lufthansa with the case for locating their investment in the United States.

The Lufthansa investment is yet another example that demonstrates that the United States is an increasingly attractive location for job-creating business investment from around the world. Last year, for the first time in a decade, global business executives ranked the United States the number one destination for foreign investment. And the Department of Commerce released new data showing that foreign direct investment flows into the United States and our territories rose from $160 billion in 2012 to $187.5 billion in 2013.

With our booming natural gas sector, our skilled workforce, our status as home of the some of the top research universities and innovation hubs, and our resurgent manufacturing communities, the United States is primed for business investment. Businesses increasingly cite the U.S. open investment climate, rule of law, the ability to efficiently export their goods, access to high-quality supply chains, and proximity to robust consumer markets as key factors to locate their operations in the United States. And now, with the help of SelectUSA, the federal government is undertaking a coordinated and concerted effort to showcase our strengths and make the case with even more investors that the United States should be their top choice.

To put it simply, the United States is Open for Business. 

President Barack Obama drops by the first meeting of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship, with Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, April 7, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

This week, the inaugural members of PAGE met for the very first time. Each of these 11 individuals has a unique and valuable perspective that will inform how the group tackles the challenges to entrepreneurial growth at home and abroad. For example, Tory Burch (Chief Executive Officer, Tory Burch; Founder, Tory Burch Foundation), who started her line of shoes and accessories just 10 years ago, recognizes the obstacles facing aspiring businesspeople who need access to financial capital to turn their ideas into successful ventures. Nina Vaca (Chief Executive Officer, Pinnacle Technical Resources), runs a business that provides IT services to companies all over the country and sees a real need to ensure we have a highly-skilled workforce in America that can take on 21^st century jobs. And Hamdi Ulukaya (Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chobani), who came to the United States from Turkey and launched Chobani Greek Yogurt in upstate New York in 2007, shared that many talented, entrepreneurial minds lack a key ingredient that can help them realize success: a belief that they can achieve their dreams.  

These leaders have created jobs in the U.S., and together can utilize their experience to help others. They are passionate about spurring creativity and entrepreneurship in the United States and recognize the positive impact of new business formation on economic growth and job creation. In fact, young companies today are responsible for almost all new job growth across the United States.

PAGE members understand the benefits that creative ideas and solutions bring to our society. Alexa von Tobel (Founder and Chief Executive Officer, LearnVest) launched her company in 2009, with the goal of spreading financial literacy and financial advice to people all over the country regardless of their income or background. Rich Barton (Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Zillow), founded Expedia, Zillow, and Glassdoor, with the idea that one way to empower people is through transparency and access to information.

America’s entrepreneurial spirit and supporting ecosystem are admired worldwide. As President Obama reminded us in our meeting on Monday, promoting entrepreneurship at home and abroad can generate prosperity globally by spurring job growth and encouraging innovative solutions to pressing challenges. The Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship will work to educate and inspire bright minds across the United States and around the world, helping them find pathways to start their own businesses and create their own success, leading to greater peace, prosperity and progress.

The inaugural members of PAGE are:

• Rich Barton, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Zillow (Seattle, WA)
• Tory Burch, Chief Executive Officer, Tory Burch; Founder, Tory Burch Foundation (New York, NY)
• Steve Case, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Revolution (Washington, DC)
• Helen Greiner, Chief Executive Officer, CyPhyWorks; Co-Founder, iRobot Corporation (Danvers, MA)
• Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn (Mountain View, CA)
• Quincy Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Quincy Jones Productions (Los Angeles, CA)
• Salman Khan, Founder and Executive Director, Khan Academy (Mountain View, CA)
• Daphne Koller, Co-Founder and President, Coursera (Mountain View, CA)
• Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chobani (New York, NY)
• Nina Vaca, Chief Executive Officer, Pinnacle Technical Resources (Dallas, TX)
• Alexa von Tobel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, LearnVest (New York, NY)

Since I was confirmed as Secretary of Commerce, I’ve been meeting with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and foreign leaders to let them know that America is “open for business.” The United States is one of the most desirable places to do business; our $16 trillion economy, with its productive workforce and diverse consumer base, could not do what it does without domestic as well as foreign investment. Yesterday, I participated in the White House Forum (Forum) on Global Investment to highlight the administration’s support for, and benefits of, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States. 

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker

For the meeting, I was joined by Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce Pat Gallagher, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez, and 21 foreign ambassadors and representatives to highlight the United States’ whole-of-government approach to attracting foreign direct investment.

Part of our discussion focused on the growth of FDI in sectors such as manufacturing, machinery, and scientific and technical services. In fact, FDI in the United States totaled nearly $168 billion last year. And just recently, the consulting firm A.T. Kearney published its annual FDI Confidence Index, with the United States ranked #1 on this list for the first time since 2001.

Two years ago, the president launched SelectUSA within the Department of Commerce to support foreign companies’ efforts to invest, remain, expand, or return to the U.S. As part of this effort, we’re working to educate firms about working in the U.S. In addition, our Foreign Commercial and State Service officers around the world are not only helping U.S. companies export, but now; they’re also helping foreign companies invest in the U.S. 

As Dennis Slagle, Volvo Group Executive Vice President, Trucks, Sales & Marketing Americas, home of the famous Mack Trucks brand said, “We’ve invested more than $1 billion here in the last decade, and welcome this conversation about making America an even more attractive place to invest.” I couldn’t agree more with that sentiment.

Creating jobs – whether for a U.S. company or a subsidiary of a foreign firm – is a win-win, which strengthens our commercial and economic ties. It’s with that in mind that the Commerce Department will host the first ever SelectUSA 2013 Investment Summit in Washington, D.C., from October 31 – November 1. The summit is an opportunity for domestic and international investors to learn all about why the United States is a great place to invest.

FDI not only helps create closer economic ties between nations, but it is an important part of the United States’ economic growth, and already supports 5.6 million American jobs.

At President Obama’s direction, the Commerce Department will continue to be the lead in coordinating all available U.S. government resources to help both foreign and domestic businesses find investment opportunities in the United States, the world’s largest and most dynamic economy.

Success means more jobs for American workers, and that is worth fighting for.