Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Thursday an overseas trade mission to the Paris Air Show and Switzerland June 14–19.
The trip will include appearances on a panel at the Air Show hosted by the Aerospace Industries Association and a fireside chat hosted by the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce.
She will also pay tribute to U.S. Army Private Rodger D. Andrews, who is memorialized at the Normandy American Cemetery’s Wall of the Missing, and whose remains were only recently identified.
“After the success of my first visit to the Paris Air Show in 2023 and Farnborough Airshow in 2024, during which we secured investments from aerospace and defense giants like Dassault Falcon Jet and RTX, I am excited that I will be representing Arkansas again this year,” Sanders said in a press release.
The trip will begin in Normandy, paying tribute to D-Day soldiers, before continuing onto the Paris Air Show to meet with aerospace and defense companies. It will conclude in Switzerland to discuss investing in Arkansas with “several large corporations,” according to the press release.
“International trade missions are a great way to pitch Arkansas to companies that might not otherwise have our state on their radar and have a proven track record of bringing in jobs and investment,” Sanders said in the release.
The release stated that the previous trip to the Paris Air Show helped facilitate Dassault Falcon Jet’s $100 million expansion in Little Rock and RTX’s new manufacturing facility in East Camden. The trip to the Farnborough Airshow helped secure Taber Extrusions’ $70 million expansion in Russellville.
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