Mayor Holden’s preparing Baton Rouge for the future.

The Mayor of Baton Rouge, Kip Holden, is going out of his way to increase economic activity in Louisiana’s capital by undertaking a series of what one might call ‘promotional’ trips to cities around the US and the world, promoting Baton Rouge as a serious contender for investment by big businesses.

Although Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana, it faces strong and unrelenting competition from New Orleans, the largest and by far best known city in the state. Baton Rouge has long been the smaller, less popular older brother.

This is what Mayor Kip Holden is determined to change.

He has already taken over 55 trips to locations outside the state, 5 of which were international trips to countries such as China, a major up-and-coming economic superpower. He has attended conferences, economic forums, and economic development meetings.

Turkey, Taiwan and Israel have also been on his itinerary.

It is a policy employed by many leaders of cities or countries, who want to put their constituency on the map, or reemphasis the virtues of their home.

After apartheid ended, the newly elected President Nelson Mandela spent much of his presidency overseas, promoting his country as a destination for foreign investment.

The strategy worked for him, and it seems to be working for Mayor Holden as well.

 At a recent Metro Council meeting, Jim Ellis commented that Holden was “the best mayor Baton Rouge has ever had for economic development.” Jim Ellis is the former chairman of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber.

Holden’s trips have been reciprocated by a number of prominent international business leaders and several delegations from China, Turkey and elsewhere, Baton Rouge news media reported recently that another delegation from Turkey was soon to be recieved by the state capital.

During tough times such as these, it is especially important for a major city like Baton Rouge to look toward the future, at a grand strategy so to speak. If one looks at a city like Atlanta, which is home to the headquarters of several fortune-500 companies, one sees that it is one of the least effected cities by the recession.

By bringing in big business now, Baton Rouge would not only pull itself out of the current recession, but it would also brace itself for the next one, establishing itself as a strong and resilient city.

Diversification of the local economy is key to this. Baton Rouge is still largely reliant on its petrochemical production industry, which accounts for the majority of the city’s GDP, this leaves the state capital vulnerable to the vacillating strength of the oil and gas sector.

“As Mayor you need to always think about not just the moment you're in, but also the future,” Holden told an audience of around 1000 students during a recent trip to China. That visit was aimed at building a cultural exchange program between the world’s next superpower and the city of Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge and Shang Hai now have a system in place to allow students from the Shang Hai Business School to undertake a foreign exchange at both Southern University and LSU, with students from those universities going to Shang Hai as well.

It is hoped by the mayor that more foreign universities will join in on the deal as well.

This kind of cultural exchange is infinitely valuable to the educational institutions in any city trying to shape students that are prepared for the international nature of learning and working in a modernized and ever-changing world.