Official: Britain keeping eye on Nevada

Michelle Swafford

Wednesday, July 20, 2005 | 10:49 a.m.

Clark County and other parts of the southwest are important to the United Kingdom's business community, a British official said Tuesday.

"It's a very important part of the world for us," said Bob Peirce, consul-general for the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles. "The opportunities seem infinite."

Peirce became the consul-general in June and was in Las Vegas this week to meet with Clark County media, economic development officials and business leaders.

"There's a lot more that British companies need to know about this area," Peirce said during an interview with the Las Vegas Sun on Tuesday. "The general perception among the business community is that Las Vegas is a one-industry town. We need to look more closely at these emerging, diverse business sectors in Las Vegas, Clark County generally."

He said he plans to take a host of ideas back to his staff of 45 about Clark County's telecommunications, technology, health care and homeland security industries and the World Market Center's furniture shows.

The plan is for British and Nevada companies to form partnerships, invest in each other's businesses and trade with each other, he said.

The British Consulate-General's role is to attract investors to the United Kingdom, but it also helps small and medium-sized U.S. firms that want to do business in the United Kingdom.

There is already a British presence in Las Vegas, with several companies including MICE North America, which is a subsidiary of a British company and specializes in designer trade show and convention exhibits.

The company, which stands for Multi-International Communication Experiences, opened its North American headquarters in Las Vegas in April 2002 and has sales and production offices throughout the United States, said Tom Acker, vice president of corporate services.

"When you're in the trade show and exhibit business Las Vegas is the logical place to be," he said.

Peirce said he would like to establish an honorary consul in Las Vegas, which would be a businessperson who must be approved by the British and U.S. governments and would report to the Los Angeles office.

A British Consulate-General office in Las Vegas would be a great opportunity for Nevada businesses as well as British visitors, said Gayle Anderson, chief of protocol of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development.

Nevada has 17 consuls representing Austria, Belize, Bulgaria, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Romania and Uruguay. Guatemala has two consuls in the state.

The countries are focused on promoting business, academic and cultural exchanges, Anderson said.

"We are very interested in the countries we do trade and tourism with," she said. "Those counsuls are a great help to the tourists that come here. That person would be a direct resource into the country. They can be the conduit for exchanges between Nevada businesses and Great Britain."

Anderson arranged Peirce's meetings with Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and other local and state officials.