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Being a key gateway to the vast U.S. market and a launching pad for accessing markets throughout the Western Hemisphere, Florida is playing an ever more prominent role in the increasingly integrated global economy, which recognizes barriers neither political nor cultural.

Quite simply, Florida is the Americas' commercial crossroads. In international business, cross-border trade and investment, banking and finance, transportation, and telecommunications, Florida is the place to be.

Whether a firm's needs include the ability to instantaneously transmit vast amounts of data to the other side of the globe, to hop on a direct flight to most anywhere in the Americas, or even to quickly find employees that fluently speak your clients' languages -- Florida offers this, and much, much more.

With all these advantages, Florida continues gaining in importance as a global economic powerhouse. Florida is a major force in international trade:

• Totaling about US$74 billion annually, Florida's international merchandise trade volume is equivalent to about 16% of Florida's Gross State Product, and is about evenly balanced between exports and imports.
• Florida is also a major exporter of services, particularly higher value-added professional services such as consulting, communications, legal, medical, financial, transportation, and others, the estimated annual value of which is about US$10 billion. The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with Enterprise Florida, created an innovative online business center -- the Florida Services NetworkSM -- dedicated exclusively to facilitating commerce between Florida's service firms and companies worldwide, including:
• A database/search engine providing free, direct access and online business referrals to thousands of Florida and international service companies, classified by specialty.
• Information on Florida and foreign markets, including resources for business and investment, government, tourism, education, international organizations, as well as events information, such as trade shows and exhibitions.
• Florida is a hotspot for foreign direct investment (FDI) and the world’s foremost location for regional corporate headquarters for Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Foreign investment in Florida’s economy totaled US$34 billion in 1998, with over 1,100 foreign firms finding it advantageous to locate in the state. High-profile international companies in Florida include Airbus Industrie, BAE Systems, Bombardier, Embraer, Toyota Tsusho, Mercedes-Benz Latina, Porsche, Volkswagen Group, Komatsu, Hyundai, Siemens, Telefonica, Global Crossing, Terra Lycos, EFE News Service, Cisneros Television Group, Ericsson, BMG, EMI, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Sharp, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Ricoh, Epson, Canon, Minolta, LG Electronics, Samsung, Acer, Swire Group, Nissho Iwai, Nippon Express, Mitsui, TNT, Randstad, SmithKline Beecham, Christian Dior, Estee Lauder, Givenchy, Bulgari, and many others.
• Florida is also the premier site for the Latin American headquarters of U.S. multinational corporations, with several hundred of them choosing to manage their Latin American (and, in some cases, African and Middle Eastern) operations out of offices in Florida. Companies include IBM, Lotus Development, Apple Computer, Microsoft, Lucent Technologies, Hewlett Packard, 3M Interamerica, Pan Am Sat, AOL Latin America, Yahoo! Latin America, AT&T; Latin America, HBO Latin America, MTV Latin America, Warner/Chappell Music, LHG Group Latin America, Dow Jones/America Economia, Visa International, MasterCard International, Eastman Chemical, Caterpillar, ExxonMobil Inter-America, Texaco, and others.
• Florida has a major concentration of other kinds of international representative offices, of vital importance for conducting cross-border commercial transactions:
• Miami is second only to New York as a U.S. center for international banking. Over 100 international banking institutions operate in Florida, including 56 foreign banks, 13 Edge Act corporations, and 33 U.S. insured commercial banks providing international services. In fact, the Latin American divisions of most major US banks (such as Chase, Citicorp, and Bank of America) are located in Florida. With the explosive growth in cross-border trade in goods and services worldwide, international banking will further increase in importance.
• Florida has the third largest consular corps in the United States after Washington, DC, and New York, hosting 94 foreign consular missions (representing 69 nations), numerous trade missions, and bi-national chambers of commerce.
• The State of Florida is also one of the most active participants in the Sister City/Sister State programs in the United States, with 48 Florida cities, towns, and counties being affiliated with 133 cities and districts in 45 countries throughout the world.
• On behalf of the State of Florida, its statewide economic and trade development organization, Enterprise Florida, maintains a network of international offices throughout the world.
• Through the Team Florida initiative, Florida’s government and business leaders organize missions to the state’s key foreign economic partners, with the objective of raising the business profile of Florida in those markets and fostering concrete cooperation in the form of expanded bilateral trade and investment.