The United States is a “key economic priority” for Scotland according to the First Minister.
The strongest export market for Scotland is America, said Alex Salmond during a visit to New York. His comments come after his meeting with American life sciences company Daktari, who announced the creation of 126 jobs in Inverness.
It also emerged that US firm SAS is to create 94 new jobs at its advanced analytics lab which it plans to open in Scotland. This move was announced after representatives from the firm met Mr Salmond in New York.
Scotland gains more foreign direct investment (FDI) than any other part of the UK towards creating jobs, according to the Ernst and Young 2012 Attractiveness Survey. The report compares jobs created across regions of the UK and placed Scotland at the top of the pile last year as well for FDI.
Mr Salmond said: “The United States continues to be Scotland’s biggest source of inward investment and remains Scotland’s biggest export market. Indeed, the American export market was worth £3.5 billion to Scotland in 2011, an increase of more than a third since 2007.
“We’ve just learned this week that whisky sales to the US last year broke through the £700 million barrier for the first time to reach £758 million.
Mr Salmond is at the Manhattan trade mission during Scotland Week. He is attending a number of economic and business events in New York and Washington DC.