St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley is joining former U.S. Senator Kit Bond on a mission to China.
“Opening up doors to trade in China is incredibly important to our local businesses,” said Dooley.
“We’ve seen research showing there are many St. Louis companies that could grow by exporting internationally.”
The upcoming trade mission to China will be made up of small, medium, and large businesses and universities in the St. Louis region. The diverse group will be composed of companies from the agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, energy, construction, chemical, medical, financial, technology and education sectors.
Over the course of the trip, the group will be meeting with government and business leaders in Beijing, the capitol city; Shanghai, the center of imports and exports for China; Hangzhou, a financial and industry hub; and Nanjing, St. Louis’ Sister City.
“Expanding on the concept of St. Louis as the Gateway to the East can be a major economic development win for Missouri’s businesses, people and economy, and trade missions to China like this fall trip will grow past successes and build new ones,” Bond said of the upcoming trade mission to China.
“This trip will help expand markets for Midwest products and open up new opportunities for Missourians.”
Bond’s group Kit Bond Strategies is organizing the trip along with the World Trade Center St. Louis and the St. Louis County Economic Council.
“Recent export data reinforces the significance of China and larger Asia as a market for St. Louis and Missouri companies,” said Tim Nowak, Executive Director of World Trade Center St. Louis.
“This trade mission is one more concrete example of the WTC Asia Trade Desk preparing and guiding St. Louis companies to successfully enter these important global markets.”
According to data recently released from the U.S. Department of Commerce, exports from Missouri grew to $7.5 billion in the first six months of the year, up 5.8 percent from the same period in 2011. Exports to Asia are central in this success – growing more than 24 percent in the first half of the year.
“Recent trade missions have been extremely successful because of the high-level connections companies have made in just a few short days,” said Denny Coleman, President and CEO of St. Louis County Economic Council.
“These trade missions are about growing relationships. We can never underestimate the value of taking the time to make these personal connections.”
Already, China is the State’s third largest export market. And with the United States and China representing the two largest economies in the world and two of the largest countries in population, strengthening economic and people-to-people ties is critical.
For years, Kit Bond Strategies (KBS) and World Trade Center (WTC) have worked together to make St. Louis home of the Midwest China Hub, developing close relationships with top level Chinese officials. Also, traveling to China since the late 1970’s, as Governor and as a U.S. Senator, Bond has led dozens of delegations to the region and hosted many from China to Missouri. As a former Vice Chairman of the US China Interparliamentary Group, Bond helped develop several business and government bilateral cooperative agreements.
The St. Louis regional delegation to China later this fall will be the second trade mission partnership between the WTC and KBS in 2012. Earlier this year, the WTC and KBS led a group to Indonesia. The group returned home with a signed Memorandum of Understanding by the WTC and the American and Indonesian Chambers of Commerce to boost trade and investment.
Space is limited, but companies interested in participating in the China trade mission can find more information and a registration application on the World Trade Center St. Louis website at http://www.worldtradecenter-stl.com.
