Putting Virginia and the Shenandoah valley on the international market is a top priority for Governor Kaine.

This morning he met with valley and state businesses at a first of its kind conference on world trade.

Officials at today's meeting say that Virginia and the valley are in a unique location for global trade.

Forbes Magazine recently called Virginia the most business friendly state in the country and said that Virginia has the busiest ports.

However businesses fall short when it comes to exports.

Chris Thompson who works with a company called Inter-Change in Harrisonburg was at the conference today.

He says his company is starting to look ahead... globally.

"We've been in business, in warehousing and transportation business for 15 years now but we're relatively new to international trade. We see international trade being a big part of our future growth," said Thompson.

Governor Tim Kaine was at the Virginia Conference on World Trade today.

He says now is an important time for businesses like Inter-Change to jump into the global market.

While a lot of businesses have moved overseas, foreign money is now being invested back in the valley.

"We don't need to be afraid of a global economy we're not just job losers with global trade, we can be job gainers and there are not a lot of states in a better position then Virginia to do that," said Kaine.

From the Interstate 81 Corridor for exporting goods, to the new IPV6 Internet zone coming to Harrisonburg for exporting technology, companies in the valley will have a special advantage.

"There are so many more opportunities for us to grab onto benefits of a global economy so i wanna just get people excited about that, our potential going forward," said Kaine.

Businesses got to learn from leaders in trade from around the world through seminars and round table discussions.