Mayor Accepts fDi American Cities of the Future Award In Washington, D.C.

Fredericton (July 5, 2011) – Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside was presented with the prestigious 2011-20012 fDi Magazine American Cities of the Future award during a recent ceremony in Washington, D.C. The award is in recognition of the City of Fredericton being named earlier this year as the top city in North, South and Latin America for Best Foreign Direct Investment Strategy in the Micro City Category; a runner-up in the Micro City over-all rankings; and sixth for Best Quality of Life in the Micro City Top Ten.

Mayor Woodside was one of more than 150 mayors and other government officials assembled in the U.S. capital for the awards ceremony.

“I am very pleased to accept this award on behalf of our partners in the Greater Fredericton Area who work tirelessly to make our community stand out on the world stage,” said Mayor Woodside. “We appreciate the recognition of those efforts by fDi Magazine, which shows us we are on the right track with our economic development strategies.”

fDi American Cities of the Future recognizes cities which have the best prospects for inward investment, economic development and business expansion. The results were released in the April / May issue of fDi Magazine, a publication of the Financial Times of London, England.

"The Americas are home to many of the world's most established investment destinations as well as some of the fastest emerging ones, making it a highly competitive and diverse region for Foreign Direct investment,” said Courtney Fingar, editor of fDi Magazine, commented. “Given the strength of the rankings methodology, large field of competitor cities and sheer scale of such a benchmarking exercise, those cities marked for recognition deserve to be proud of their efforts. fDi Magazine congratulates them."

The ‘American Cities of the Future rankings compared data from 405 cities in six categories: Economic Potential, Human Resources, Cost Effectiveness, Quality of Life, Infrastructure and Business Friendliness. A seventh category was added to the scoring – FDI promotion strategy. In this category, 100 cities submitted details about their promotion strategy and this was judged and scored by an independent judging panel.

The Financial Times Ltd. is one of the world’s leading business news organizations. It is recognized internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Full results are available onwww.fdiintelligence.com/Rankings or in the April/May issue of fDi Magazine