Contributed
North Carolina’s Southeast, the economic development partnership for 18 counties stretching from Montgomery and Anson on the west to the Atlantic Ocean, produced a compelling report this week on the region’s prospects.
The area is poised to expand in the food manufacturing, advanced textiles, distribution, metalworking and aerospace-defense industries because of important economic trends, according to the 222-page report. It is being used to guide the region’s three-year strategic plan for the organization, which is led by President Steve Yost and Board Chairman Jeff Etheridge. John Nelms, a senior economic development manager at Duke Energy, chairs the group’s Strategic Planning Committee
The report is filled with data about the southeast that could be valuable to any business or school teacher charged with trying to better understand the region. About 1.8 million people live in the 18 counties, 10 of which showed population declines in the last five years, according to the report. But the region’s coastal counties including Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender are growing much faster than the state average.
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