Columbus Mayor Fred Armstrong now says he’s expecting at least five visits from representatives of Asian companies he visited on an economic development tour late last year. The mayor says he hasn’t been given a timetable for the meetings, but expects the foreign officials to begin arriving as early as late this month. Still, speaking on WFIU’s “Ask the Mayor,” Armstrong was quick to temper his optimism.
“I can’t guarantee any of those companies coming [to invest], but I would hope that we get maybe one – or two would be nice – but I don’t want to be too greedy,” Armstrong said.
The mayor said last month said he’d received an e-mail confirming one visit. He’s previously said that he and other economic development officials met with light manufacturing companies when his group traveled to China and Japan in October. Some of those companies, he says, make automobile parts and aluminum coils.