Phil Gary represents Chamber, Columbus in Washington, D.C.

When President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore wanted to gauge and encourage business support for the North American Free Trade Agreement recently, they invited business owners from across the country to a special NAFTA briefing at the White House. Among those invited was Chamber member Phil Gary, president of Phil Gary Enterprises USA.

Gary's invitation came as a result of a request made by the White House to the Chamber's Economic Development department to recommend successful business leaders active in international trade. The Chamber immediately thought of Gary.

Phil Gary Enterprises USA is an export management company representing 10 manufacturers. Gary has worked closely over the past several years with the Chamber's International Trade Development office to increase his business' growth.

The day-long forum earlier this month consisted of two sessions. A morning briefing in which all the business leaders in attendance were invited to participate and an afternoon meeting of select business leaders. Gary was among the group invited to the afternoon session, which included a briefing with Gore.

"The afternoon session offered me the opportunity to personally speak with Al Gore and suggest some of my own business strategies and plans that would benefit the country with the passage of NAFTA," Gary said.

Clinton's efforts to encourage support of NAFTA were realized last week when the U.S. House of Representatives passed NAFTA.

"North America will now become the world's strongest economic superpower, which will create many more new jobs, plus give a tremendous boost to our economy," Gary said.

Gary said with the passage of NAFTA he will begin to put in place a business component that is expected to increase exposure of North American-made products to the worldwide marketplace. Gary declined to offer specifics of the program as he is in negotiations with the government personnel regarding its implementation.