Delegation from Greater Seattle seeks cooperation with South China cities

Delegates of Greater Seattle Business and Trade Mission including representatives of Boeing and Microsoft sought cooperation opportunities in Haikou while meeting with provincial officials and business people on Tuesday.

The 33-person delegation, which was composed of members from aviation, tourism, education, medicine, trade and media as well as governmental organs, arrived in this capital of south China's Hainan Province on Tuesday, which was the last leg of their China visit.

Ray Stephanson, delegation leader and mayor of the Everett City, said that the mission would help promote Greater Seattle and Washington State as a world-class business center and gateway.

During the China tour, the delegation visited seven dynamic cities in the south China region since Nov. 25, including Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhaoqing, Fuzhou and Haikou.

The mission was designed to provide opportunities for the private-sector delegates to explore specific business with Chinese partners.

In a presentation, Stephanson said that the Washington State is famous for Boeing, Microsoft, Weyerhaeuser, University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. It also boasts the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett, the busiest in the world.

John Okamoto, chief administrative officer of Seattle Port, said that Washington State was the most trade-independent of all 50 states in the United States, with the fastest transit time from China to Chicago and beyond.

The delegation provided statistics which showed that the Washington State's export to China amounted to 3.3 billion US dollars in 2004, and the import reached 16 billion US dollars from China in the meantime. The export categories to China fall into aircraft, agriculture products, scrap metals and computers and electronics. It also bought from China clothing, records and tapes, electronic equipments, appliances, furniture, shoes, toys and sports equipments.

Zhou Gongzu, vice secretary general of the Provincial government of Hainan, said the tropical island province with abundant resources is the biggest highly-effective agricultural base and the most spectacular tourist resort in China. It is also a manufacturing and processing base of offshore oil, and a manufacturing base of natural rubber.

He hoped American business people could find more and more opportunities in the region.

Source: Xinhua