Chinese may be key to economic diversity

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, May 14, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

In their effort to diversify Nevada's economic base while continuing to lure tourists to Las Vegas, state officials are looking to a relatively untapped source: China.

After a summit Monday held to discuss economic diversity, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt outlined a plan to develop a "world trade center" in Southern Nevada for Chinese manufacturers.

Las Vegas could become China's global hub for business if Chinese business leaders build a major facility to display and distribute their products.

"We could have a major distribution center that could serve areas from Mexico to Canada," Hunt said. "Our future can be bright if we have long-range thinking."

Securing a healthy economy in the future is the mission of more than two dozen educators, business leaders and politicians who gathered Monday for the second economic diversity summit held in six weeks.

The group reviewed strategies to identify potential industries that could relocate to the Las Vegas Valley, develop a philosophy on the type of companies local governments hope to attract and create a work force database.

The tasks will be split up among local governments, the Nevada Development Authority and the university system.

Industries that summit participants believe have the most immediate potential are geothermal energy facilities and the exportation of Las Vegas' entertainment.

Hunt said China has taken a great interest in Las Vegas -- she recently appeared via satellite on Chinese television shows that reached out to 900 million viewers.

Aside from drawing tourists from the world's largest nation, Hunt said the state is continuing to tout itself for movie productions. In the past 20 years, some $1.27 billion has been generated from the film industry; a third of that came in the last three years.

Clark County Commission chairman Dario Herrera emphasized the need to ensure that companies wishing to relocate offer decent wages and health benefits so their employees are not a burden on local services.

But wages and health benefits aren't likely to be the state's greatest challenge.

In the month and a half since the last summit, the House of Representatives approved Yucca Mountain as a permanent site to store nuclear waste and rising medical malpractice insurance premiums prompted obstetricians to turn away pregnant women.

Summit participants agreed to meet regularly to discuss public policy issues related to such crises.

"The public policy issues today provide a challenge and we need to come up with a plan on how to address them," Herrera said. "Those are the types of things we need to assess immediately and come up with an action plan."

Hunt added that the transportation of nuclear waste across the country is a greater worry than the malpractice crisis.

"We are so resilient, we're not going to go backwards to the '70s or '80s; we'll get it resolved," Hunt said of the medical issue. "Yucca is ongoing. It's ludicrous that after 9-11 they'd consider transporting that stuff through the heartland of America."

In order for their mission to be successful, Herrera said, local governments need to better fund the development authority -- the lead agency responsible for most of the tasks. The agency is funded 80 percent by private members and 20 percent by governments; in most communities the funding formula is reversed, he said.

"We need to assess whether governments are meeting their obligation to the NDA and whether or not we can do more or should do more," Herrera said.