FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) – Gov. Andy Beshear is spending the week in Europe with a delegation from Team Kentucky, attending the World Economic Forum and meeting with company leaders in Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Beshear said the trip will support future investment, job creation, and economic development opportunities in Kentucky. The governor is scheduled to speak twice at the forum, appearing on a panel of U.S. governors discussing state roles in American competitiveness and during a session called “Can We Save the Middle Class?”

“Kentucky is a logistics state,” Beshear said. “One of my biggest pitches that I make, especially on an overseas trip, is if you are a company that doesn’t have a U.S. presence, and you want access to the U.S. markets, you want to sell what you make in U.S. markets, the place you oughta put your manufacturing facility is in Kentucky.”

Building on international presence

Beshear said attending the World Economic Forum is an opportunity to build on Kentucky’s international presence, which includes 524 foreign-owned facilities that employ more than 110,000 Kentuckians.

The World Economic Forum is an invite-only annual meeting that started in 1973. It has become a major international networking opportunity and one of the world’s largest assemblies of global decision-makers, with thousands of government, business, and civic leaders representing over 125 countries participating.

Beshear called it a unique opportunity to meet with business leaders from around the world at one location and remind them why he feels Kentucky is an ideal location for manufacturers.

“Why? Because you can reach 60 plus percent of the country’s population in a one-day drive,” Beshear said. “But that’s not the only way that products are moved. Products are moved by rail. Products are moved by air. Products are moved by river. These riverports are essential to certain types of industries.”

Riverport investments

Last week, Beshear announced more than $2.3 million in awards to enhance six of Kentucky’s public riverports. According to Team Kentucky, the projects modernize equipment, expand capacity, and improve safety, strengthening the state’s role in regional and national freight movement.

“What this does is it helps us to create more industrial and other sites. It helps us recruit more companies. It helps us compete for that company that pays really good wages but has to have access to a riverport,” Beshear said. “We’re gonna be able to check more of the boxes that any of these companies would have.”

This is Beshear’s second year in a row at the World Economic Forum. He called last year’s trip one of the most effective economic development trips he has taken.

Republican criticism

Some Kentucky lawmakers have criticized the governor’s foreign travel. The Republican Party of Kentucky Communications Director, Adam Hope, issued a statement ahead of Beshear’s trip to Europe.

“Governor Beshear is once again off rubbing elbows with global elites in Switzerland,” Hope said. “Before he boarded a taxpayer-funded flight out of the country, he found time to take shots at Republican legislators who actually show up and do the people’s work. That’s not surprising coming from the Kentucky Governor who would rather point fingers than fix problems.”

Hope said Beshear “loves to lecture everyone else about bipartisanship, transparency, and focusing on the ‘real issues,’ but when it’s time to lead, he disappears.”

“Kentuckians deserve a governor who shows up and does his job,” Hope said. “Instead, Andy Beshear is skipping town, dodging responsibility, and chasing headlines as he tries to build a national profile for a presidential campaign that’s already six feet under. Republicans are here, doing real work, while Beshear is making excuses and chasing attention.”

Republican Representative TJ Roberts has been outspoken about his thoughts on Beshear’s travel. He recently filed House Bill 86, which would require the governor to submit a written request to the State Treasurer to use tax dollars for international travel, prohibiting the use of tax dollars for international travel without approval.

The bill states that the request must clearly articulate how the travel would benefit Kentucky.

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