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Gov. Perry, Rep. Villalba Meet With Chinese Investors On Development Trip

A state legislator that has joined Texas Gov. Rick Perry during his Asian Economic Development Trip said investors from China and Japan are poised to provide the private funds needed to grow the state’s economy and fulfill some of its infrastructure needs.

State Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, said Perry asked him to join him in Beijing to meet with hundreds of Chinese investors that are interested in growing the Texas economy by either providing capital for existing projects or bringing business to the state.

“We had a state dinner tonight with a group of investors that have placed a billion dollar methanol plant into Texas City," Villalba said. "So this is a plant that is under construction, it’s going to be an employer of a significant number of people in our state with high wage jobs.”

Prior to joining Villalba in China, Perry met with officials from the Japanese Railway Company about investing in Texas Central Railway’s private effort to build a high-speed train between Dallas and Houston.

Villalba said Texas must look to privatized funds before tapping state resources.

“A way to do it is to look to investors that might not be domestic, but investors like Tokyo and Japan, who’ve been willing to come up with the investment capital to build something like that,” Villalba said.

Villalba, Perry and Texas Secretary of State Nandita Berry will continue to meet with hundreds of Chinese investors. Villalba said China is one of Texas’ strongest trade partners, purchasing over $10 billion of products each year.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.