CARY, N.C. — A Town Hall meeting at the SAS campus Wednesday with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce dealt with information technology and its role in economic recovery.

Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans and other members of the Bush administration witnessed how SAS ships its popular software around the world.

"North Carolina and the Research Triangle, in particular, is being recognized as one of the hotbeds of technology in this country," said Dr. Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS.

Secretary Evans told the group that America's business system works, and signs are good.

"There are signs beginning to develop to suggest a pending recovery in the year 2002," he said.

Evans stressed the importance of trade promotion authority for President Bush and passage of the economic stimulus bill. Local tech leaders questioned the visitors and said they were pleased with the response.

"They're really listening and that's what the important thing is, and I believe that they're giving it their best to make the economy recover and to heal the environment, so tech companies can survive again. We're all hurting right now," said Vivek Wadhwa, CEO of Relativity Technologies.

"The issues of technology companies are very real. I think the fact that they are part of both the infrastructure and also the economic productivity is really key," said Monica Doss of the Council For Entrepreneurial Development.

Evans said North Carolina can play a unique role in economic recovery.

"The uniqueness that this community, this region, provides is the innovation that's already proven from the development of wonderful products out of here. And that will continue," he said.

Cary was the third stop on the

U.S. Department of Commerce's

"America Works" tour. Other "America Works" meetings were held in Chicago and Columbus, Ohio. They focused on retail and manufacturing.