In May, Georgia announced the largest economic development project in its history — a deal with Hyundai to build a $5.54bn electric vehicle and battery manufacturing plant near the port city of Savannah.
The agreement, which promises to create 8,100 jobs, solidified the south-eastern US state’s position as an important centre for the emerging American electric vehicle (EV) industry.
But a deal in one of the most cutting-edge of business sectors has its roots in a decades-old piece of Georgia history. Nearly 40 years ago, the state set up an office in Seoul to take advantage of an economy that was opening up at the direction of a more market-oriented government industrial policy.