LA mayor visits Beijing

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a luncheon in Beijing that he is committed to supporting Chinese entrepreneurs who want to break into the US market and to connecting LA businesses with partners in Asia.

The luncheon was hosted by China Enterprise Council to welcome the mayor's delegation on Nov 22. More than 40 US and Chinese government and business leaders attended the session along withGarcetti, including members of the Los Angeles city council and top executives from flagship enterprises such as AVIC international, Industrial Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Southern Airlines.

“Los Angeles and China have deep cultural and economic ties, and I thank the Chinese Enterprise Council for furtheringreciprocal business exchanges and cooperation between us,” said Garcetti.

“Los Angeles is a global city and the American capital of entertainment, manufacturing, and international trade,” he said. “I look forward to a new level of exchange and partnership that will bring prosperity for everyone on both sides of the Pacific.”

At the event, the Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the City of Los Angeles signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the development of RMB business.

Gu Shu, senior executive vice-president of ICBC, said that the internationalization of the RMB was the new trend.

“ICBC would like to take this opportunity to set Los Angeles as its RMB business trading center of California, to provide services to both American and Chinese clients, including clearing, settlement, remittance and foreign exchange,” he said.

Wu Guangquan, president and chairman of AVIC International, said that in recent

years his company had invested billions of dollars in the US.

“We not only completed a series of acquisitions, transactions and collaborative projects, but in the process, we also made many American friends, such as our friends from Los Angeles who arehere today,” he said. “It is your help and support thathavecontributed to opening a new chapter of mutually-beneficial cooperation between Chinese and US companies.”

Sherman Zhang, president of the China Enterprise Council, presented Mayor Garcetti with a calligraphy artwork made by a 74th-generation descendent of Confucius as a welcoming gift. The four characters on the painting are:“GuangJie Shan Yuan”,wishing thatGarcetti makes lots of friends in China and further enhances the good will between the American and Chinese people.

"Cherishing friendship has been a fine tradition of the Chinese people for centuries," he said. "We believe Mayor Garcetti and the delegation have already felt warmth and hospitality duringthis trip, just as we feel from our American friends in Los Angeles."