Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to leave Thursday for a seven-day trade mission to the United Kingdom with a coterie of advisers and leaders in manufacturing and economic development.
The Democrat will begin his journey at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Thursday through Sunday, where his office said he will discuss Illinois' continued interest in manufacturing electric cars with automobile, energy and other industry leaders.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a 30-year-old motorsports festival where contemporary and historic race cars take part in a hill climb and other events at a country estate belonging to the Duke of Richmond, built about 1600 in West Sussex.
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On Sunday, a long list of other officials will join Pritzker in London to meet their counterparts and discuss stronger economic cooperation between Illinois and Britain. The focus will be on manufacturing, clean energy and technology, collaboration in higher education and more.
"I promised to be our state's best chief marketing officer, letting the world know that Illinois is the best place to live, work and do business," Pritzker said in a prepared statement.
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He said in his meetings he would "share the many virtues of our state from our talented workforce and world-class manufacturing industry to our booming electric vehicle ecosystem and ambitious clean energy goals."
A total of 42 participants are listed as attending, including top advisers to Pritzker, staffers from his Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the statewide economic development agency Intersect Illinois; the University of Illinois, including President Tim Killeen, and other universities; and representatives of manufacturing, hospitality, utilities and more.
Pritzker's office said he and first lady M.K. Pritzker will pay their own expenses and those of a small party accompanying them for the Goodwood festival.
The governor's office budget will cover travel and lodging costs for Pritzker's staff attending the mission from July 16-19. Intersect Illinois and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will pay costs for their staffs as well as special events during the mission. Other members of the delegation are covering their own costs.
