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Governor off to India for 10-day trip focused on business issues
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham talks during a news conference held in advance of a special legislative session in this July photo. The governor’s administration is disputing a legislative report that found 44% of the money appropriated for public safety initiatives over the last five years has gone unspent.
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SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is headed to India for a 10-day trip focused on economic development and education issues, her latest in a series of overseas trips.
The governor left New Mexico on Thursday and will spend time in New Delhi and Chennai before returning on Aug. 10, according to the Governor’s Office.
While in India, Lujan Grisham will hold talks with local business, government and higher education officials.
She will lead a state delegation that includes state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary-designate Melanie Kenderdine, Governor’s Office Deputy Chief of Operations Caroline Buerkle and Nora Sackett, the director of the state Economic Development Department’s office of strategy, science and technology
Lujan Grisham’s husband, Manny Cordova, is also traveling with the group.
The New Mexico Partnership, an Albuquerque-based nonprofit group that focuses on business recruitment efforts, is paying the cost of the delegation’s travel, according to the Governor’s Office.
Since taking office in 2019, Lujan Grisham has also traveled to Dubai and Egypt for climate change summits. She has also led recent trade missions to Taiwan, Australia and the Netherlands, where she traveled to in May for an international hydrogen summit.
India was not among the top destination countries for New Mexico exports in 2023, according to state Department of Workforce Solutions data. Mexico was the destination for more than two-thirds of all state export activity, followed by China, Canada and Colombia.
Computer equipment, aerospace products, electronic components, dairy products and oil were among the state’s most valuable exports as of last year.
Meanwhile, the governor’s trip to India comes after she called a special legislative session focused on crime-related issues last month and held public-safety town hall meetings in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Española.
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After returning from her latest trip, Lujan Grisham is expected to travel to Chicago later this month to attend the Democratic National Convention, which is set for Aug. 19-22.
Per the state Constitution, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales will serve as acting governor while Lujan Grisham is traveling out of state.
