ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- The chamber's annual dinner brings with it a new board chairman and a new focus on foreign business. Most notably, China.

"You look at the number of businesses in Rockford today that are dependent on foreign markets for a lot of their sales," says new board chairman Mike Broski.

"They will become our largest customer and our largest supporter," says Steven Little.

Little travels the country learning about communities and how they could grow. He's the keynote speaker at the chamber's dinner and feels the key to Rockford growth is moving past the city's traditional base.

"There appears to be what I call a little bit of a phantom pain you know when you loose a limb... Your body, or your brain still thinks it's there. We've lost some things, manufacturing jobs to some extent... And that phantom pain still exists and we think that limb is either going to come back or it's still there," says Little.

Chinese solar panel producer Wanxiang brings both foreign investment and modern manufacturing jobs to the Forest City. Other locally based businesses are looking to take advantage of over-seas customers as the new year brings new prospects.

"My crystal ball says that 2011 is a huge rebuilding year... And we're definitely coming out of this. It's going to be a rocky road coming out but there's a lot of opportunities in 2011. Solid opportunities to happen," says Jeff Kaney of Kaney Aerospace.

more investment from china based companies is already on the way... We'll have more on that story tomorrow.