DES MOINES – It’s nearly 7,300 miles from State Center, Iowa to Taiwan, but state Sen. Steve Sodders said the distance is worth the effort to maintain the strong relationship between the state of Iowa and the Asian nation.

Sodders has been invited to lead an Iowa delegation to Taiwan this July, after the Iowa Senate and House approve resolutions late last week re-affirming the existing trading, educational and cultural relationships between the two entities.

Calvin Chen-huan Ho, the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago, extended the offer to Sodders, who will lead a group of Iowa legislators and other dignitaries to Taiwan sometime in mid-July.

“It’s amazing. It’s a privilege and an honor to represent not only the Iowa Senate and the whole legislature, but the state of Iowa,” he told the Times-Republican.

The Democratic state senator said the resolutions passed by both the Iowa Senate and House recognizes the importance of maintaining good relations with Taiwan where in 2013 alone, $97.4 million worth of goods from Iowa were shipped to the Asian country including farm products, miscellaneous commodities, chemicals, machinery, paper and computer and electronic products. And according to the Iowa Senate resolution, Taiwan has consistently imported between $2.5 billion and $3 billion annually worth of U.S. farm products – the seventh largest market for U.S. agricultural goods.

As of 2013, Taiwan was Iowa’s 16th largest export destination – important in part because while Taiwan cannot do direct business with the United States as a whole, it can deal directly with individual states, like Iowa.

“It’s certainly a great thing for farmers and agriculture in the district I represent and the whole state,” Sodders said.

The trip to Taiwan will not be the first for Sodders.

In 2009, as a member of the Iowa Senate, he traveled with a delegation, in part, to establish an Iowa trade office in Taiwan.

“That actually was done and we now have an Iowa representative in an office in Taiwan,” Sodders said, adding that effort has proven a boon for Iowa.

The trip this year could also be beneficial for not only Iowa farmers, but others.

Sodders said Taiwan may be interested in establishing a base in Iowa when it comes to Taiwanese products that are shipped to the United States, like technology.

“It could mean more jobs here,” Sodders said.

The senator also said the trip will provide him and others a chance to review Taiwan’s infrastructure, specifically high-speed trains.

Because many Iowans are moving from rural areas to larger, more urban areas, train transportation to and from small towns to larger towns could help to keep more people living in rural areas as opposed to having to make the move.

“How do we keep people in rural areas of the state?” Sodders asked. Taiwan has “some infrastructure that we simply don’t have and I’d like to see what that’s about.”

And as a Marshall County sheriff’s deputy, Sodders said there may be a chance for him to bring along Iowa law enforcement officers as part of an exchange to see how law enforcement operates in Taiwan compared to what happens in Iowa.

Sodders noted the trip to Taiwan will be sponsored entirely by the Taiwanese government and that no Iowa taxpayer dollars will be spent.

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Contact Jeff Hutton at 641-753-6611 or jhutton@timesrepublican.com