Arkansas is ideal for company leaders who want a central location and comprehensive transportation infrastructure that will allow them to get their products to consumers quickly and efficiently. The state is especially friendly to European businesses looking to expand westward.

For more than half a century, Arkansas has been a leader in manufacturing, and that expertise continues today as the industry becomes increasingly focused on 21st century advanced manufacturing jobs. Arkansas’s cost of doing business is among the lowest in the United States. CNBC ranked Arkansas as having the fourth lowest cost of doing business among all states in 2015.

Six European countries were among Arkansas’s top 20 trading partners in 2014 (France, Germany, Belgium, UK,  Denmark and Austria). These six countries accounted for 16.3% of all Arkansas exports. Britain is well-represented in Arkansas with 9 companies with UK parents. These companies have 15 locations around Arkansas and account for about 940 jobs.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Arkansas has about 31,600 workers employed by foreign-owned firms. More than half of these jobs are in manufacturing. Foreign direct investment in Arkansas was responsible for 3.4% of the state’s total private-industry employment.

Arkansas has the tools that help businesses succeed. Just look at our seven home-grown Fortune 500 companies headquartered here: Dillard’s, JB Hunt, Murphy Oil, Murphy USA, Tyson Foods, Windstream and Walmart – the world’s largest company. More than one hundred Fortune 500 parent firms operate facilities in Arkansas.

One of these tools, our central location makes getting your products to worldwide markets easier and more cost- efficient than ever before. Interstate 40 is the major east-west thoroughfare reaching from North Carolina to California that runs through Arkansas. Interstate 55 links eastern Arkansas to St Louis and Chicago to the north and New Orleans to the south, while Interstate 30 connects Arkansas with markets to the south west, including Texas and Mexico.

Arkansas’s railroad infrastructure includes three Class I systems: Union Pacific, BNSF Railway and Kansas City Southern Railway. Union Pacific operates major yards in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, along with a locomotive repair facility in North Little Rock. In addition, the state has 22 smaller railroads operating over more than 2,700 miles of track.

If you prefer other modes of distribution, make note of the two major commercial airports in central and north west Arkansas as well as the commercial passenger service available at six regional airports throughout the state. And, a network of waterways along the Arkansas River contains ports in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Fort Smith, in addition to Mississippi River terminals in Osceola, West Memphis and McGehee.

We will help you feel at home in one of several available sites – including 14 certified sites – ranging in size from as little as 10 acres to more than 4,000 acres. In addition, Arkansas has approximately 600 available buildings which range from 10,000 square feet to 1.5 million square feet.

More importantly, what you will find when you are ready to begin hiring is that the Arkansas Economic  Development Commission (AEDC), working with other state agencies, offers a Career Readiness Certificate to potential employees. This helps make certain the people you interview are qualified and those you hire have the skills, or can be trained in the skills, that you need, thereby greatly increasing returns on your training dollars and efforts.

Arkansas’s incentives are nationally competitive, understandable and easy to use. Arkansas works with new and existing industries and will focus on each business’s specific needs to provide a tailored incentive proposal for the project.

Our project managers at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission are eager to speak with you and take you on a tour of an appropriate available site. Please visit www.arkansasedc.com to start your own Arkansas success story.