A meeting of today could lead to jobs for tomorrow.
That's the hope, anyway, as Metro Council President Tom Hughes continues on a tour of South Korea and China, areas where Oregon has lagged in recruiting investment.
Hughes is on the final leg of a 10 day trade mission to Asia, his third trip overseas in the name of economic development since he took office in January.
But each of those journeys, Hughes said, has had a different aim. His trip to Tokyo in February was primarily to network at a worldwide solar power convention. His March trip to Europe, along with Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Hillsboro Mayor Jerry Willey, was to work on business retention with German companies already doing business in the Portland region.
This mission has a decidedly different tone.
"Particularly when you're dealing with the business community in the Asian countries, it's a long process, and it's about making contacts and making relationships," Hughes said in an interview before his departure. "At some point along the way, something happens, and you kind of scratch your head and go, 'I wonder what that was?'
"It was because they had grown to trust you and like you," he said.
That was primarily the focus on the South Korea portion of the trip; Hughes spent two days in Seoul before traveling to Beijing.
In China, Hughes was scheduled to meet with government officials in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, including working on an educational partnership with a sustainability center in Shanghai.
He said he also planned to pitch Portland's expertise to Chinese businesses.
"They're interested in designing and building green buildings," Hughes said. "We have architects who do that here and could do that there, or do that here for them. And at a time when 40 percent of our architects in Oregon are unemployed, that would seem to be a good market to work in."
Still, did Metro really need to spend roughly $3,000 to send Hughes to network and market Oregon architects? Couldn't Hughes just pick up the phone?
"The key to getting people to decide to invest is they have to have confidence in you," Hughes said. "You can't do that over the telephone."
But is a recession the right time to be doing this?
"It's a little like Intel's philosophy that when the market goes to hell, they get out the cranes and start building stuff. It's that same kind of thing," Hughes said. "If you postpone (economic development) until better times, you're likely not to see better times."
He pointed to the work the Portland region has done in developing an image of innovation to Japanese businesses. The work has been years in the making, but now, many Japanese businesses view the Portland region as a place to launch new products in the American market.
"Most of us who have been in economic development know it's a long, slow process," Hughes said.
Hughes isn't alone on this trip; a delegation of more than 40 Oregonians, including Gov. John Kitzhaber, are on some or all of the mission.