Baldacci to return early for ‘substantial’ jobs news

AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci plans to cut short his European trade mission and return home for an announcement concerning economic development and jobs in central Maine, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Baldacci, who has been in Germany on the first leg of a weeklong overseas trip and is due in Italy tonight, is expected to be back in Maine late Thursday so he can participate in a news conference Friday.

Details were not immediately disclosed.

“He’ll be making the announcement,” Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey said.

Originally, Baldacci’s trip was to extend through the week with the governor returning Saturday.

“He’s only cutting it short a couple of days,” Umphrey said.

Baldacci’s second international trade mission was designed in collaboration with the Maine International Trade Center to lead representatives from a group of Maine companies to Duesseldorf, Germany, and Milan, Italy, from Nov. 13 to 20.

Officials said Maine exported a record $2.2 billion in goods in 2003.

A state of Maine trade mission last year targeted Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Promotional material touting this year’s state of Maine trade mission describes Germany and Italy as “great opportunities for entering or expanding sales and markets in the European Union.”

According to the Baldacci administration, Maine’s exports to Germany in 2003 were worth $17.3 million, while 2003 Maine exports to Italy were $40.3 million, up 33 percent from 2002 with significant increases in wood, paper and seafood, the administration said.

Umphrey said Tuesday that Baldacci’s announcement likely would cite a “substantial” number of jobs.

The governor has sought to signal an eagerness for the new legislative session to get under way in earnest. New lawmakers are sworn in Dec. 1.

Baldacci, on the morning after Election Day, sketched his plans for submitting a new tax reform package in the first week of December, delivering a two-year budget blueprint a month after that and then putting forth a new state borrowing proposal designed to stimulate jobs.

Baldacci’s itinerary for Thursday included Maine Day at the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade in Milan. On Friday, he had been scheduled to attend a family reunion in Lucca.

According to the administration, Maine’s exports have increased 20 percent from 1998 to 2003, with Maine ranking eighth in the nation in export growth.