SAUDI ARABIA, — When Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb leaves office in January, he's got a few things to pass on to Indiana Governor-elect Mike Braun.
"I will say here's a conversation, or here's the deal that's in the pipeline. Here's where we are and over that next first quarter, I hope to hand him a number of deals on a silver platter," said Holcomb.
Holcomb said he's working on some of those potential deals right now in the Middle East.
It's part of his last economic development trip overseas, with stops in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
"I've already made phone calls back to Indiana today to certain companies saying we talked about you today. I don't know if your ears were burning, but we were talking about potential growth opportunities for Indiana companies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait," said Holcomb.
Major General R. Dale Lyles, the head of Indiana's National Guard, is also on the trip. He and Holcomb have also spent time with Indiana soldiers who deployed to Kuwait in late September.
Holcomb said they were able to do a little celebrating with the troops while there.
"I want to share with you first, this is the front page of the 'Stars and Stripes' and it talks about the toast of the gridiron, achieving the unthinkable, the 10-0 Indiana Hoosiers," Holcomb said.
Members of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation are also on the trip where Holcomb plans to host a roundtable with local businesses whose work involves advanced manufacturing, life sciences and defense.
According to the governor's office, Indiana exported $28 million in goods to Kuwait last year including plastics, rubber and transportation equipment.
Holcomb said his one regret was that he hadn't made this kind of trip to the region sooner.
"Good people want to do business with good people and so like I said, the bare minimum is showing up," said Holcomb.
His work right now is all part of what Holcomb plans to leave behind for the next man in the governor's seat.
"I will hand him over the playbook, so to speak, before he is sworn in on the 13th of January. I've said before, I'm going to be working until the last hour of the last day," Holcomb said.