"This strategy calls for establishing a large industrial park on the border of our two states with half of it located in West Alabama, in the area we call the Black Belt, and the other half located in East Mississippi," Riley said. "Now, instead of bidding against each other for large industrial projects, we can partner our resources and each spend less incentive dollars. In addition, a prospective company will be able to draw on the workforce from both states while communities on both sides of the border will benefit from the accompanying supplier projects."

Riley said that partnering the two states will also combine the efforts and talents of their congressional delegations which provides an extra incentive for automobile, aerospace and other companies to choose the location.

"We can partner the political clout and stature of both states’ congressional delegations - national leaders like Richard Shelby, Trent Lott, Jeff Sessions and Thad Cochran," Riley said. "I’ve often compared it to taking the best players from Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Auburn and Alabama and putting them all on the same team. That team could be competitive with any other team in the country.

"That’s exactly what we’re doing here except, instead of putting together a football program, we are putting together an economic development program that can be competitive with any other state in the country," Riley said.

He added that, while the two states have agreed in this initial meeting to participate in the joint effort, Alabama Development Office Director Neal Wade and his counterpart in Mississippi will be responsible for fleshing out the exact details of the partnership.