St. Louis Could Become Air Cargo Hub For China - VIPs From China Visited St. Louis This Weekend
Fox 2 News
May 3, 2009
by Teresa Woodard
ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) - The answer to St. Louis's economic crisis could, potentially, lie in international hands. A serious push is underway to turn St. Louis into an air cargo hub for China, which would mean jobs and money for the city. Missouri's governor made a sales pitch to a delegation of VIPs from China Sunday.
"We think there's a lot of positives for St. Louis, Missouri, and America," says Governor Jay Nixon. "I think it could really happen.
About 55 government and business leaders from China spent the weekend in St. Louis. Nixon met with them Sunday afternoon, at a luncheon at Express Scripts in North St. Louis County. There is a reason the delegation saw the Express Scripts facility, and the Danforth Plant Science Center.
"They have a huge problem with the cost of drugs in their country," says the governor. "The company here has done a wonderful job bringing those costs down. The Danforth Plant Center they visited this morning is literally the place in the world where research is being done to make a difference for the future.."
The delegation ate lunch in the Express Scripts lunchroom, listening on headphones as a translator explained the reasons their country should build an air cargo hub in St. Louis, and the reasons their businesses should build their American headquarters here too.
Through a translator the leader of the delegation told the governor and others she feels enthusiasm and hospitality in St. Louis. It's her second visit to the city, and this time she brought individual business leaders with her. Just that fact says something to the governor.
"It begins to cement the relationship so we can take our products, technology, the opportunities we provide the world and literally have a world export for them," says Nixon, "and hopefully to get travel direct back and forth between us and their country."
Missouri and China signed a memorandum of understanding last year, and Nixon says he hopes this visit builds on that relationship. It is not a done deal, though. The delegation is also considering Washington, DC and Chicago as headquarters.
Click here to view the Fox 2 report.
