GMI's Vice President Thomas Fagrelius attended the State of Minnesota South America trade mission in December 2009. Here's a a photo from the mission with Tom Fagrelius, Sr. VP Sales & Marketing with former Minnesota Govener, Tim Pawlenty and his wife.
The Governors Wife, Tom Fagrelius GMI, Inc. VP, Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota
Excerpt:
“Governor Tim Pawlenty lead a trade mission to Brazil and Chile in December 2009 to help Minnesota-based companies increase exports to South America, build strategic relationships and explore new business opportunities.
The mission, occurred December 5-12, 2009, included visits to Sao Paulo, Brazil and Santiago, Chile, and included market and industry presentations, roundtable discussions with business leaders and government officials, networking receptions, and site visits. The delegation included approximately 30 business leaders and executives.
"South America's emerging markets are ripe for Minnesota businesses looking to expand their exports," Governor Pawlenty said. "Our trade mission will help Minnesotans make connections and build relationships with new trading partners in Brazil and Chile.
There are significant opportunities in a wide variety of industry sectors in Brazil and Chile that will interest business leaders from a cross-section of industries. In Brazil, markets are expanding for medical equipment, agricultural machinery, airports and aircraft-related parts, energy and environmental technologies. In Chile, opportunities exist in computer hardware and software, food processing and packaging equipment, construction materials, and mining equipment.”
GMI views the Latin American market for its products to be one of significant growth. “Laboratory distribution companies in South America and Mexico are looking for strategic relationships that can bring high value in both support for legacy products and supply of quality re-certified capital equipment to markets such as petrochemical and biotech. GMI is well positioned to do that with the size and breadth of its product portfolio, recent ISO 9001 certification, and its multinational engineering staff including engineers from Columbia and Venezuela ,” says Mr. Fagrelius.
