St. Louis Delegation In China For Next Big Step In The "Big Idea"
RCGA Monday Memo
March 22, 2010
This week's Monday Memo comes to you from Beijing, where I am joining a 9-day, 12-member delegation led by Mayor Francis Slay and London-based 48 Group Club Chairman Stephen Perry. The focus of this follow up visit to China in pursuit of the "St. Louis Big Idea" to establish the bistate St. Louis region as China's Gateway and Commercial Hub for the Central USA is negotiations with 6 separate Chinese airlines, as well as meetings with a number of individual companies that have expressed interest in locating U.S. operations in the St. Louis region and with potential investors in the region.
In addition to Mayor Slay, Stephen Perry, and me, other members of the St. Louis delegation here in China include Mike Jones, Chairman of the Midwest China Hub Commission; Lambert Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge; Guenter Rohrmann, Cargo Consultant to the Hub Commission; Dr. Steve Miller, Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, Research & Clinical Sciences, Express Scripts; Jason Van Eaton and Steve Stone of the Hub Commission; Mina Liu of the 48 Group; Interpreter Roger Shapiro of London Export; and Michael Wang of the 48 Group Beijing offices.
Our delegation is in Beijing today and tomorrow, Shanghai and Shenzhen Wednesday and Thursday, and Haikou on Friday, traveling home on Saturday.
Our delegation is also holding follow on meetings with key Chinese governmental officials, including the Ministry of Commerce (MofCom); the China Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC); the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Health; the All China Federation of Industry & Commerce; the China Center for Urbanization, NDRC; the Mayors and Vice Mayors of both Shanghai and Shenzhen; and the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Last year, to bolster trade efforts - particularly with China -- the airport commission approved an agreement with Aeroterm LLC of Annapolis, Md., to develop $40 million in cargo facilities on the site of a former Boeing aircraft fabrication facility and office complex at the airport.
In 2007, St. Louis regional entrepreneurs and civic leaders and State officials, including the RCGA, began collaborating to establish and expand an economic partnership with China.
In June 2008, China Vice Premier Wang Qishan visited St. Louis and stated, "...in the United States, we landed on the East and West coasts first. But it is time that we moved our attention to St. Louis, to the State of Missouri, and use the base here in St. Louis to expand our openness to the Central United States, to open up further and promote economic links further."
The Big Idea project has the support of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, Missouri Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill, Mayor Slay, County Executives Charlie Dooley and Steve Ehlmann, Labor Leadership, and key St. Louis HQ businesses such as Emerson, Graybar, BJC Healthcare, Express Scripts, Monsanto, and Sigma-Aldrich.
The St. Louis region's geographic positioning in the center of the country and our excellent air, rail, port and highway capacity, makes our bistate region the ideal location as the Midwestern hub for trade with China. This --- coupled with the civic partner St. Louis has in London Export CEO and 48 Group Club Chairman Stephen Perry, who has unique high regard by Chinese leaders --- bodes well for St. Louis becoming an important new center for trade and investment between the Midwest and China. We will continue to keep you posted on progress on this important venture.
