Indiana governor affirms business ties

Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon, who is in Japan in an attempt to attract more investment, said he is committed to maintaining strong business ties here despite the country's economic woes and the Asian financial crisis.

"We want Japan to know that our economic relationship with them is still strong," he said in a press conference in Tokyo on April 7. O'Bannon, along with a group of Indiana business and political leaders, has spent the week visiting leading companies such as Toyota, which recently announced it would build a new truck plant in the mid-western state, he said.

Indiana's ties with Japan have been rapidly growing, O'Bannon said. In addition to exporting $900 million worth of goods here in 1996, the state is home to 120 Japanese manufacturing plants. All of these companies have become "very good corporate citizens," he said, and have been well-received by local communities.