Why Vietnam Is Emerging as a Major Opportunity for Kentucky Businesses
July 13, 2026
awtcky_administration@wtcky.org
Episode 38: In this episode of the Global Trade Adventure podcast, Omar Ayyash, Lee Lingo, and Jim Ray discuss the growing importance of Vietnam as a strategic trade partner for Kentucky businesses. Lee shares insights from multiple trips to Vietnam. He highlights the country’s rapid economic growth, expanding manufacturing base, and increasing opportunities. Particularly promising sectors include agriculture, bourbon, technology, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing. They explore how World Trade Center Kentucky trade missions help businesses accelerate relationship-building and gain direct access to key decision-makers in international markets. The group also emphasizes the value of face-to-face interactions, trusted networks, and cultural understanding when developing global business opportunities.
Listeners will learn about the upcoming World Trade Center Global Business Summit in Vietnam and the opportunities it will create for Kentucky companies seeking international growth. The discussion reinforces Kentucky’s strength as a global manufacturing and logistics hub while showcasing the role international trade plays in the state's economic success. Consider this an invitation for businesses to explore new markets and to leverage the World Trade Center’s network of over 330 Centers.
Key Themes:
- Vietnam Global Business Summit 2027
- Announcing the WTCKY Trade Mission to Vietnam in 2027
- Leveraging the Value of Joining a Trade Mission
- The Growing Level of Kentucky Trade
- Conclusion & Upcoming WTCKY Events
Episode Transcript:
Jim Ray:
Welcome to this video episode, our first actual video episode, of this Global Trade Adventure podcast for the World Trade Center Kentucky. I’m very happy to have Dr. Omar Ayyash, President and CEO of the World Trade Center back in the studio today. And Lee Lingo of Lee Lingo Consulting. And we are going to talk about an interesting opportunity coming up in Vietnam with the World Trade Center. As always, Dr. Ayyash, I’ll turn it over to you.
Omar Ayyash:
Good morning everyone. Thank you, Jim. It's good to be here. It's really exciting to start a new era for our podcast. We launched it a couple of years ago and it's been predominantly audio and now we're moving into video. So this is really a moment in history that we're very excited about. Lee, it's good to have you here. How are you today?
Lee Lingo:
Great to be here. I'm great.
Omar Ayyash:
Yeah, Lee is one of those people that we've worked very closely with for a number of years. First of all, he used to sit on the Board of the World Trade Center and then he was also interim CEO. And from my personal perspective, he was one of those individuals that really helped me with my second stint with the World Trade Center, especially the first couple of weeks and into the first year. He was really very involved and I really appreciate that. Thank you, Lee.
Lee Lingo:
It was my pleasure.
Omar Ayyash:
Yeah, so introduce yourself. Tell us about you, give us your background. I know you've got a pretty impressive background.
Lee Lingo:
I've spent the first half of my career working in business, working in different industry sectors. The second half of my career I spent time or I've spent a lot of time working for businesses on a nonprofit type basis, so Chambers of Commerce, membership associations, Kentucky Association of Manufacturers, and doing private consulting with businesses and industry as well.
Omar Ayyash:
How exciting. And you've also lived around the country, right? You've lived in a number of different places.
Lee Lingo:
Yeah, I've moved around a bit. Spent time in Maryland and Michigan, Texas and Indiana. Spent time in Japan and England, when I was in school, traveled quite a bit. So I've been fortunate to be able to see a lot of different places.
Omar Ayyash:
Cool. Well, we're glad to have you here today. So the focus of the World Trade Center has always been that we are here to help small, medium and large companies navigate the international marketplace. And there's a number of ways that we do it, whether it is through our trade advisory services, through our premier training programs and through our trade missions.
Today, we're going to focus really on the trade missions and the value they bring to Kentucky companies in the surrounding region in what they do. And many of you probably are very aware of. What I have been doing for the last three years and continuing into this fourth year of my presidency is that we go every year to a trade mission to Dubai, and it's really picked up with momentum and excitement. But here we're going to focus on a little bit of a different country and we'll get to that in a minute. But Lee, have you been on any of the trade missions hosted by the World Trade Center?
Lee Lingo:
Sadly, I have not. I always had conflicts with different schedules and whatnot, but I know in the past World Trade Center Kentucky has been to Canada, they went to Panama and Cuba, a couple other places. We've been to some really interesting places looking for opportunities for Kentucky businesses to reach out and grow. And you adding Dubai to that obviously scaled it up quite a bit, which is pretty exciting.
Omar Ayyash:
Thank you. Thank you. Actually, my first trade mission was in ‘97 with the World Trade Center.
Lee Lingo:
Wow.
Omar Ayyash:
We went to Hong Kong just right as it was turned back over from the British to the Chinese. It was just a phenomenal experience. And of course I've been on many local trade missions with the World Trade Center Association, which we'll get to that. But Jim, you've been on our trade mission.
Jim Ray:
Yeah, I've been on the Dubai Trade mission, which was absolutely fantastic. And I've also been involved when you've actually welcomed other delegations to Kentucky from outside. We've had various Canadian junkets coming in through town all the time. We've had some from the ASEAN nations. We did a nice roundtable with that group.
Lee Lingo:
Was a really good event.
Jim Ray:
And a few others. So it's always been exciting. But thanks very much for the opportunity on the Dubai trip and excited to hear about the new one.
Omar Ayyash:
Yeah, totally. The key factor of doing a trade mission is it makes it easier on businesses that want to develop new markets, get into new places, and what we do is we really focus on opening doors for Kentucky businesses in these new markets.
I just recently came off of visiting Philadelphia for the Global Business Summit that the World Trade Center Association puts on every year. And where we're lucky that it is in the United States this year and next year it's actually going somewhere more even, I'm not going to say more exciting, but different and they're going to Vietnam. And this is where Lee and I started to connect because Lee has been spending quite a bit of time visiting Vietnam. Tell us about your travels to Vietnam before we get onto what's happening next April in Vietnam.
Vietnam Global Business Summit 2027
Lee Lingo:
I think it's really interesting kind of to preface this, if you go back as we were younger growing up, I don't know how many people notice, but I always sort of noticed the labels of where things were from. So we had made in China, made in Taiwan, made in Japan, Hecho in Mexico. You just sort of see where the different things come from. And this is, as a kid, I wasn't aware of trade and goods and economies and things of that nature, but I happened to notice the tags and I always thought it was sort of interesting.
Vietnam has been on that list some, but it is really emerging now and coming into its own. It surpassed 500 billion in GDP just last year for the first time, Vietnam is the US' seventh largest trading partner and we are their second largest behind China. So their economy has been growing substantially.
In fact, they grew our bilateral trade between Vietnam and the US grew 20% and 2024, 40% percent in 2025 to ‘26, which is an incredible, I mean if you're looking at that on a graph, that's an incredible spike. And there's a lot of interesting opportunities and overlaps between what we in Kentucky have as primary sectors and what they have.
I had the opportunity to travel and visit a friend two years ago. Vietnam was never on my punch list of places I was excited to go, never even thought about going there, but my friend called and said, Hey, come visit. And so I did spent 10 days there, visited the American Chamber of Commerce Vietnam, went to several of their meetings. Took a ride out and visited the folks at the World Trade Center at Binh Duong and had great meetings there. Just was really impressed with the opportunities that I saw. And that was just a vacation. I wasn't there to do business, but I was curious.
Omar Ayyash:
But I love how you tagged into the business part of it. You couldn’t help it.
Lee Lingo:
Yeah, I couldn't help it, I had some free time. I'm a Chamber Association guy, World Trade Center guy, so I want to know what they were doing and how they did it. And so last year I got the opportunity to go back and visit that friend again. Spent 30 days there, two weeks of it was on a adventure bike, a motorcycle tour through northern Vietnam. Got to really see the other side of Vietnam, the very rural side. The person I was visiting was in Ho Chi Minh City, so that's obviously major metro. It's like New York City.
But seeing the rural side and the ag-side was really, really fascinating. And just paying more attention to the kinds of things that Kentucky has to offer that weren't there. And wondering why bourbon is a key particular beverage that has had strong growth in other parts of the world, but bourbon is not there yet.
And so now I'm going back a third time. I'm leaving on the 14th of this month, so this will be my third trip back. I'm going to be visiting again with folks from the American Chamber of Commerce Vietnam. I've got some meetings with the World Trade Center Vietnam. I’m going to the Vietnam Industry and Trade Show.
Omar Ayyash:
How large is it?
Lee Lingo:
They're going to have 600 vendors there. They're expecting about 30,000 people to go through the doors. It's their largest trade show showcase. And it's everything from robotics, automation, chip manufacturing. It's very industrially focused, but there's a lot of overlap with what they're doing and what they're growing into with what Kentucky does. So I'm going to meet with a number of vendors while I'm there and try to find some opportunities where there's connective opportunities here and there.
Announcing the WTCKY Trade Mission to Vietnam in 2027
Omar Ayyash:
That's great. And this is really, Lee is really going to set the stage and this is where we make the big announcement. So next year announce World Trade Center Kentucky is doing a trade mission to the Global Business Summit, hosted by the World Trade Center Association, in partnership with the World Trade Center of Vietnam. And I cannot under or over, emphasize is really the appropriate word, 330 World Trade Centers in 91 countries. The network of being a member of the World Trade Center is on a local level, national level, international level. You get to partner up with Kentucky companies in the surrounding region that are doing global trade. You get to partner up with the World Trade Center Association, whether it's the Miami World Trade Center or the Denver World Trade Center or the network domestically. And then you get to operate within the global network. And so we're excited about this partnership. So getting you to go and knock on some doors and get us ready for taking a delegation of at least 10 or 15 companies from here in Kentucky.
The Global Business Summit, April 4th-7th, 2027. How exciting is that, Lee?
Lee Lingo:
Super. And I think now's a good time to drop the sizzle reel.
[Editor’s Note: Official WTCA Video Plays Highlighting the 2027 Global Business Summit Vietnam]
Omar Ayyash:
So technically reacted to a couple of things that you've said, Lee, if I had a magic wand right now and made almost everything disappear that's imported in the United States, we probably wouldn't be sitting on this couch. We probably wouldn't be talking to the mic. Part of your glasses might not be the frames on your eyewear might not be from here. And that's the kind of situation, that's how important global trade is to our daily life.
On the same situation when trade policy and how any administration in the United States have used trade policy, whether it is to protect industry or to shift the relations and things of that nature, there's always a movement of trade. It doesn't stop. So in the last 25 years, maybe a lot of our business was to China or coming from China, where now we were to look at the numbers, and the reason you brought in all this growth that's happening, is a lot of American companies are shifting their supply chain into countries like Vietnam and for sure into places like Mexico.
So Vietnam is a very important partner of the United States when it comes to international trade. And we want to create that opportunity for people there. Now on a day-to-day life, Lee, how is it interacting with the Vietnamese community? How easy was it? How wonderful was it?
Lee Lingo:
Super easy. There's a lot of similarities and of course there's a lot of differences, too. One of the starkest, I love food and I probably look like it.
Omar Ayyash:
You're not the only one.
Lee Lingo:
Yeah, the food there is so fresh. There are so many street vendors who buy fresh goods. They'll have a special of the day and that's all they make. And it'll have some sort of a protein and then fresh vegetables that were delivered that morning. And so you're eating the freshest of the fresh every time you sit down for that lunch at the street vendor. And it's about $2. It's unbelievable.
Omar Ayyash:
$2?
Lee Lingo:
Yeah.
Omar Ayyash:
It's crazy. We're going.
Lee Lingo:
It's crazy. Now there are nice fancy restaurants too. These are just small street vendors, but the food is exceptional and it's just in somebody's basic, their garage. There is a hustle and bustle, especially in Ho Chi Minh City that you would expect to see in any large city. Just people moving back and forth.
And what's interesting, you talk about trade, but if you look at trade or just the economy, it's like water. It finds a way, it's going to go somewhere. It never sits still. People are always going to buy goods and they're going to find the best place to buy goods at the best price for them. And so that's why trade has, or sources for goods have, hopped from country to country over what we were talking about in our lifetime.
What we're seeing now in Vietnam is an amazing trajectory. What's even more sort of idealistic for this time is that with the Trump administration and their diplomatic relations with Vietnam, they are now giving America preferential treatment for importing and at zero tariffs.
So if we are exporting to Vietnam, our goods are going in at zero tariffs, which is exactly what we want. So when you think about industries like bourbon, that's really largely untapped in that market. That's usually something that's tariffed pretty heavily. This is a perfect opportunity for our bourbon friends. They're big in importing ag products. So for instance, soybeans. And we've had trouble moving soybeans, especially to our traditional buyers in China. This is a great opportunity to find a new market for our soy products that are coming from here. But then they have tech products too.
They're moving very fast into semiconductors and Kentucky is one of the leaders in that space due to our investment and leadership in EV battery technologies. Those are things that are paired very well together and they're trying to upskill and train people into that space. And that's something that we know quite a bit about.
So there's even opportunities on the educational and service levels, not just on those levels. What's really cool about this though is you and I started talking about this three years ago. You remember after my first trip I said, we've got to have a trade mission to Vietnam. And that was after meeting with all those folks last year was the election. Lots of changes from an administrative point of view. Things have settled down. People have figured out largely how to work within this administration's needs and desires. Now is the time to do it. And of course, they're having the event next year, which is absolutely perfect.
So, I'm excited that I'm going this time in a week because I'm going to be laying the groundwork for our trip. The event that we're going to April 4th through the 7th next year is going to be a great concentration of businesses from across the globe that are connected to the World Trade Centers in their region, right?
Omar Ayyash:
That's right.
Lee Lingo:
Fantastic.
Omar Ayyash:
Global and Vietnam,
Lee Lingo:
So you're going to be able to meet with people from anywhere else, as well. What we're going to be doing, and what I'm going to be working on, on this trip is adding on to that. So what can we do? What sort of meetings could we have and facilitate that are people on the ground through the connections that I've been making?
Omar Ayyash:
Yeah. One of the things that I always like to do, and I'm glad that we started the conversation. At the same time, I'm glad that I just went to the business, the Global Business Summit, hosted by the World Trade Center Association through our Philadelphia World Trade Center. But I always like to have an anchor event for a trade mission. And so one of the successes that we did with Dubai is GITEX, which is the largest technology trade show in the world. That's our anchor event. And we use these anchor events to get people in front of the global audience, and that's what we'll do in Vietnam.
Then through the relationships that have already started establishing, and you will be establishing, you sort of scaffold the relationships on the side. So you've got April 4th through the 7th, we're at the Global Business Summit. There'll be B2B matchmaking with other world trade centers, businesses and things of that nature. But maybe the day before, the day after, during the dinners, this is where we would go meet with the embassy officials, American Embassy, we'll meet with the Chamber of Commerce, the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi or in Vietnam, and then other businesses that we pick on.
And I'm curious, I'm going to dig a little deeper. I'm curious to know from your experience and your relationships in those markets already, how has your experience been working with the World Trade Center in Vietnam?
Lee Lingo:
Oh, really good. Like I said, I was there on vacation and I just basically sent a blank, not blank, but a blind email and said, Hey, I'm involved with the World Trade Center in Kentucky. I'd love to come out and see your shop and see what it's like. Different World Trade Centers focus on different things and some of the World Trade Centers focus on of the real estate holdings.
What's interesting in Binh Dong, the World Trade Center there is, it's an event space that has the World Trade Center in it. And so they host these trade shows and they're going to host the World Trade Center, World Trade Center's Association event next year. But this is in this city that was designed very purposefully from the inside out. It wasn't organic in how it grew. They knew that they wanted to cluster industries, so they found land and figured out how to do that. Then they added housing for the employees of those clustered industries. Then they added schools to teach the kids of the households who were in those clustered industries and skill them up. They built hospitals. Everything was built around this concept of this city is going to be built as a economic engine. And you see that when you go through there. It's pretty mind blowing.
Jim Ray:
It sounds a lot like Dubai actually, doesn’t it?
Omar Ayyash:
It does. And Expo City is exactly that, where the GITEX trade show has been typically in the center of Dubai, but now it's going to be moving out to Expo City. And it's exactly what Lee is describing.
Lee Lingo:
Very purpose built.
Omar Ayyash:
Exactly. I mean, from my perspective, again, big shout out to the Dubai World Trade Center, to the Sharjah World Trade Center, to the World Trade Center because they really provide red carpet service to the Kentucky delegation when we get there. And I'm sure the World Trade Center in Vietnam will do the same.
Lee Lingo:
Well, we've actually been talking and they're going to be on my podcast and we're going to talk about business in Vietnam and what that looks like. So I'm excited to talk to the CEO on my podcast while I'm over there. So I didn't mean to interrupt you.
Jim Ray:
Well, no, I was going to say recently we had Brad Cummings on from EQL games and you all were talking about as he took his business globally, he really began to really underscore the importance of that face time. And we're not talking about on your phone, we're talking about face-to-face interactions and meetings. And when you look at what the World Trade Center Dubai did for us, all of the meetings that between the two of you, your organization here locally and the organization over there, the way they were able to set up face-to-face meetings with key people, not just, Hey, we've got some people coming in, could you show them around a little bit? These were decision makers. These were people who could open doors for us, who could actually have substantive conversations. And I think Brad and his episode actually really underscored the value of that. And that's exactly what you're talking about in Vietnam, is that they are looking to establish business and personal relationships. And I think that's the essence of international business. It really starts in that face-to-face interaction, that breaking bread with someone that's sitting across the table and getting to know them as individuals, and then the business relationship typically followed.
Lee Lingo:
To that point. I was at an AmCham event, AmCham Vietnam event that first year.
Jim Ray:
It was the American Chamber of Commerce.
Lee Lingo:
American Chamber of Commerce Vietnam. They call them AmChams, when they're abroad. I was at an event where some of the US national delegation was there to speak to businesses about global initiatives at the time. And one of the people at my table, and I struck up a conversation, turns out her firm did the greenfield development for Fruit of the Loom when they decided to look for a new place to produce their products in Vietnam.
So there's a direct Kentucky connection there, which was what are the odds that I'm in some random country on vacation? I decided to go to a business meeting. I'm sitting there talking to somebody who actually knows where Bowling Green, Kentucky is.
Omar Ayyash:
That’s fantastic.
Lee Lingo:
It was like crazy. And so we've continued to foster that relationship and we're looking for other opportunities to work together. And they're looking for opportunities where they can bring Vietnamese technology, know-how, investment companies to Kentucky. It's amazing how small the world is.
Leveraging the Value of Joining a Trade Mission
Omar Ayyash:
Here you are sitting in the heartland of America thinking that why is international trade important for the state of Kentucky and why would a trade mission to Vietnam help a Kentucky business develop? What are your thoughts on that, Jim and Lee?
Jim Ray:
Well, again, I think it's that firsthand exposure. You can read a lot about a country and maybe a culture, but you really learn so much more just walking down the street, seeing how they conduct business, seeing what the local, the vibe if you will, what that looks like, getting a feel for it, and then making those personal introductions to where when you come back, you've got sort of a place to land, at least socially.
Lee Lingo:
Yeah, that's it for sure.
Jim Ray:
And you get to know those people because again, people do business with other people, not necessarily other companies or organizations. And when that personal relationship has been established, it's so much easier progress to a commercial relationship. And that's ultimately why you're going in the first place. But if you don't have that personal knowledge going over again, a Zoom call is fine. A Teams meeting is fine, but nothing beats face-to-face interaction. And I think that's what you get when you go to a new environment, a new culture.
Lee Lingo:
Yeah, it does. And to your point, it takes a couple of visits. The first visit is kind of getting your feet wet, meeting people, and just soaking it all in.
The second visit is generally when you start to clue in on things specific to you and your needs. Our fellow friends who are in supply chain, global supply chain management at the World Trade Center, we have talked about this quite a bit. They have those relationships that they have cultivated over time. And so whether it's creating opportunities for new Papa John's locations to open up in a new market or to buy a specific ag product that's going to make color, that's going to be put into some other product, you've got to find those connectors. And that's how you start that process. And while you don't have to be on the ground there all the time, you've got to meet and foster relationships with people that you get to know there who are going to have your interests at heart because they're aligned with theirs.
Omar Ayyash:
But the key advantage that we bring is that we already fast-track those relationships.
Lee Lingo:
Exactly, exactly.
Omar Ayyash:
By you going over there three times and knocking on some doors. And by me spending 15 odd years in the market in the UAE, right, and using the network.
Lee Lingo:
And using the network,
Omar Ayyash:
We fast-track those relationships.
Lee Lingo:
The network is key. It is. If we don't know somebody, if I don't know somebody, you don't know somebody and you don't know somebody, we know who to call, who does know somebody. And see, that's the thing with economic development and community development, it's all about having access to people who know what you need to know and where to find that.
The Growing Level of Kentucky Trade
Lee Lingo :
So let's talk a little bit about Kentucky trade. We set another record this year. What was our…
Omar Ayyash:
$50 billion. More than $50 billion? I don't know the exact number, but it's in the neighborhood of $50 billion.
Lee Lingo:
So, back in 2015, about the time I started getting involved with the World Trade Center, we set a record then and it was $14 billion, I think.
Omar Ayyash:
Yeah, I've been using the $48 billion number a couple of years ago, but just announced…
Lee Lingo:
Our growth curve has been substantial. And a lot of that is because Kentucky really punches above its weight in the manufacturing sector, from a per capita place.
Omar Ayyash:
And the World Trade Center is all of that.
Lee Lingo:
Well, of course! Kentucky was 5th in manufacturing per capita. The last I checked we're a tiny state. And that's comparing us to the Midwest, to California, some of these other big states that are powerhouses. Now, if we're at $50 billion, do you know what the trade is to Vietnam? Do you know where they rank?
Omar Ayyash:
Not exactly.
Lee Lingo:
They don't.
Omar Ayyash:
Okay.
Lee Lingo:
That as a trick question. But the point of that is this is a completely open market for Kentucky to grow. Our $50 billion to…
Omar Ayyash:
With zero tariffs.
Lee Lingo:
To something else with zero tariffs. So now is the time for us to find ways to go that direction.
Omar Ayyash:
Did you hear that?
Lee Lingo:
Yes. And so that's why we're laying this sort of groundwork of let's get this set up. Let's have a fantastic first trade mission to Vietnam, as you're continuing these trade missions to Dubai.
At the tail end of my visit to Vietnam, I'm going to Romania next. So I'll be doing the same thing there. I'll be meeting with the World Trade Center in Bucharest, the AmCham in Bucharest, and starting the same thing in that direction.
Let's continue to try to find opportunities where Kentucky businesses who want to grow, want to find new opportunities to sell their products or services can find new markets for that. There's the sort of adage that the majority of the market that you have available to you is outside of your state border. Well, it's certainly outside of the national border. And so if you're making ski scooters or if you've got a hemp product…
Omar Ayyash:
Felt Loom.
Lee Lingo:
Bourbon.
Omar Ayyash:
Automotive.
Lee Lingo:
Yeah, aerospace. There are certainly so many market opportunities that we just aren't tapped into. And the World Trade Center is one of the best organizations to work through to pursue those. There are others, but the World Trade Center has the best network.
Omar Ayyash:
Thank you, Lee. The infrastructure is in place.
The way I look at it, I mean definitely call the World Trade Center. We'll get you connected, whether it is on a local level, national level or international level. But also in terms of when you think about the logistics aspect of it, we're a 7-hour draft from two thirds of the US population. That's one of the main reasons manufacturing is booming. And you cannot deny that the logistics companies, the UPSs of the world, the DHLs of the world, the FedExs of the world.
Lee Lingo:
Amazon…
Omar Ayyash:
Are here and we're here to support in every aspect. So Lee, we look forward to hearing about your travels when you come back.
Lee Lingo:
I look forward to sharing the updates.
Omar Ayyash:
And for any business owner in the state of Kentucky in the surrounding region, we don't only take Kentucky businesses, we take actually businesses from across the globe.
Lee Lingo:
We've all got friends all over the place. You're welcome to join us.
Omar Ayyash:
Want to be part of this upcoming Vietnam Trade Mission.
Lee Lingo:
April 4th through 7th is the trade show that we're going to 2027. Want to make sure we get the date out there.
Omar Ayyash:
Exactly. Global Business Summit organized by the World Trade Center Association, hosted by the World Trade Center Vietnam and the Kentucky World Trade Center is going to be organizing a trade mission to that. So join up.
Lee Lingo:
It's going to be epic. We look forward to you joining us for some good Kentucky hospitality while we're visiting Vietnam.
Jim Ray:
Outstanding friends, I hope you found that exciting. I mean, it's big news for us. We're excited about launching this foray into Vietnam and really developing some personal and some business relationships while we're over there.
Once again, this is our first video episode. So do us a favor, connect with us on Facebook, connect with us on LinkedIn, and let us know what did you think? How did you like it? If you want to be a guest on the podcast, by all means, we're always looking for guests to bring on. So reach out to us as well if you have an interest in that. But Lee, I want to thank you and wish you Godspeed, and just a lot of good luck as you get ready to leave here, in just a matter of a few days actually.
Lee Lingo:
Yeah. Yeah.
Jim Ray:
So best of luck with that. Omar, always good to see you. Thanks for all your hard work. And by the way, we're getting ready for the World Trade Day coming up in August here in Louisville, Kentucky, where we're going to hand out the Martha Lane Collins Award, kind of bringing all that back. We're really excited about that. So do you want to mention just a couple of comments in passing about World Trade Day?
Omar Ayyash:
Yes. One of Kentucky's largest international business events is happening this August, August the 25th and the 26th at the Marriott East, here in Louisville. We are very excited that we're going to be having about 20 different countries represented, meaning they're Chambers of Commerce, like what we've been talking about, their consulates, their ambassadorship, and things of that nature.
The sole purpose why they're coming to Kentucky is to connect with businesses here in Kentucky to help them develop markets in their country, or whether it's import, export, foreign direct investment. And we're very excited about having breakfast keynote speakers from a national perspective, talking about international trade and things of that nature. But we're also bringing global keynote speakers that are flying in from very far countries to share their economic development stories.
And last but not least, one of the most important things that we're doing is we have relaunched the Martha Lane Collins Award for International Trade Excellence, and there'll be fantastic Kentucky companies getting that award. And we want you there August the 25th, 26th here in Louisville.
Jim Ray:
Well, friends, once again, a lot of exciting things going on for the World Trade Center Kentucky. So from all of us here at This Global Trade Adventure podcast, thanks for joining us and we'll be back shortly. Take care.
Thank you for listening to today's episode. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. You can find more information on our website at wtcky.org. Be sure to register for the upcoming events. Until next time, from all of us at the World Trade Center Kentucky, and our This Global Trade Adventure podcast, remember, if it involves global business at the World Trade Center Kentucky, we grow trade.
Upcoming WTCKY EVENTS:
- 08/25-26/26 – World Trade Day 2026 Global Business Summit
- 09/29/26 – 10/01/26 – International Trade Certification
- 12/05/26 – 12/11/26 – Dubai Trade Mission 2026
- 04/04/27 – 04/07/26 – Vietnam Trade Mission 2027
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