By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Site Selection magazine has recognized Alabama for having the best state economic development agency.
In a ceremony Monday at the Capitol, Adam Bruns, the magazine's managing editor, joined Governor Bob Riley and Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office, to celebrate Alabama's selection for the magazine's Competitiveness Award for 2006.
Alabama's selection was based on 586 companies locating or expanding in Alabama in 2006. The industries, when completed, expect to create more than 24-thousand-700 jobs. Leading the list was the 13-hundred job Verizon Wireless call center for Huntsville.
Following Alabama in the magazine's top 10 states were: North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Iowa and Oklahoma.
Alabama also won the award for industries recruited in 2004.
Riley said he hopes to win the award again in 2008 because more than 10 major industries are considering Alabama, including German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)