Gov. Chris Gregoire has announced Washington State will again be the venue for the Aerospace & Defense Suppliers Summit (ADSS) at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center next year.

The event is the largest of its kind in North America.

The inaugural ADSS in the United States was held this past March in Seattle, and organized by French-based BCI Aerospace with the support of Boeing and the Washington State Department of Commerce. With more than 800 companies from 25 countries, ADSS is one of the world’s largest networking events connecting buyers and sellers in the global aerospace industry.

“There is no better location than Washington state for the aerospace industry’s top manufacturers and suppliers to connect and explore business opportunities,” said Gregoire. Since the summit last March, Washington companies that attended have reported $1.3 million in sales, and several million more dollars in contracts are in the works, according to Gregoire. “With some 740 aerospace manufacturers and supplier companies in Washington, we supply every major final assembly manufacturer in the world.”

Gregoire also announced that through an executive order, she is disbanding the Washington Council on Aerospace and reassigning its duties to the Office of Aerospace, the Aerospace Workforce Pipeline Committee, the Joint Center for Aerospace Innovation, and the Washington Aerospace Partnership.

Gregoire created the council in 2009 to keep up with changing aerospace needs and demands. Since its inception, the Council has issued two annual reports to the Legislature and many of its activities and recommendations have been enacted. Additionally, several new and focused entities have been created to further the goals originally established for the Council.