Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will leave Saturday for a weeklong economic development trip to France and Germany as part of a business recruiting effort.
Hutchinson said Thursday that he'll meet with aerospace companies at the Paris Air Show, which is the world's largest aviation and aerospace trade show. He then goes to Germany for an international metallurgical trade show.
The $129,000 trip includes meetings with at least 17 different prospective companies, but Hutchinson said he doesn't anticipate any new business announcements when he returns on June 19.
Hutchinson said he will also meet with representatives from some of the state's existing businesses including Dassault Falcon and Lockheed Martin, which is competing for a multi-million dollar defense contract to assemble military vehicles at its plant in Camden.