"Our top priorities are attracting businesses to invest and create jobs in North Carolina, and helping our existing businesses grow and expand here," Gov. Perdue said. "We're going to continue spreading the word about North Carolina's great business climate, and keep working aggressively to bring companies here."

North Carolina has finished in the top 10 in all six years of CNBC's business rankings. In its rankings, CNBC scored the states on more than 51 measures of competitiveness based on the cost of doing business, workforce, quality of life, economy, transportation and infrastructure, technology and innovation, education, business friendliness, access to capital and cost of living.

This announcement follows on the heels of a #3 ranking for the best states for business by Chief Executive, Site Selection and Forbes magazines. For more information about North Carolina's great business climate, please visit: http://thrivenc.com/whync/accolades.

(Image provided by WLS Channel.)

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