Governor Pence says a week long trade mission to China should bring long-term benefits to both Indiana and the Chinese people.
Pence will conclude his trip Friday in Shanghai with stops including an Eli Lilly research and development center.
Pence predicts China‘s slow embrace of free-market principles will lead to increased freedom for its people, and reforms of the country‘s human-rights abuses.
He says the country is already making progress on economic abuses which have drawn international criticism, including currency manipulation and copyright infringements.
Pence says this trip’s benefits will be long-term, not immediate.
"We don't anticipate any significant jobs announcements before we're back on Hoosier soil," says Pence. "But I think the spade work we're doing here is going to result in more investment in Indiana like we've seen in recent years."
China is Indiana‘s fifth-largest trading partner, with $1.4-billion dollars in exports.
The trip is Pence‘s sixth overseas trade mission as governor and his second to Asia.
