U.S. City Leaders Offer Investment Advice to Chinese Mayors
by James Brooks
 American local government leaders, working in collaboration with NLC, were among the featured speakers and panelists at the 2008 Global Investment Promotion Forum, which was held in Nanning City, China, and sponsored by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Nanning Municipal Government and The World Bank.
The forum brought together national and local government leaders from Asia, Europe and the Americas, along with real estate developers, investment fund managers, and representatives from the United Nations agencies and the private sector.
The U.S. delegation included Larry Klein, mayor, Palo Alto, Calif.; Paul Natale, mayor, Commerce City, Colo.; Chuck Wolf, councilmember, Avondale, Ariz.; David Fitzhugh, assistant city manager, Avondale; Valarie McCall, chief of government operations, Cleveland; and I. Allen Barber, president, Denver-Hainan Corp.
On January 16, the Chinese government approved implementation of the development plan for the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone of which Nanning City is the metropolitan center. The investment forum offered an opportunity to explore good models for regional governance, infrastructure development, environmental protection and foreign investment attraction. The Chinese hope to establish a center for high technology innovation in this zone.
In a speech to the delegates, Mayor Larry Klein suggested that centralized government planning is not sufficient to recreate California’s Silicon Valley in Southeastern China.
“Local government, at the very least, can help create the conditions for innovation and entrepreneurship,” Klein said.
He suggested that the birth of Silicon Valley, and the ongoing reinvention of itself, is an organic process driven not by government, but by the private sector and the imagination of entrepreneurs.
In a private meeting between the mayor of Nanning City and the American delegation, the discussion turned to opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between China and the U.S. NLC has long-established ties to its sister organization in China. As a step toward expanded relationships, the cities of Nanning and Commerce City signed a letter of intent to explore a sister city or friendship city partnership.
Details: For more information about opportunities for participation in trade missions, international fellowships, or in the work of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), contact NLC's International Programs staff at (202) 626-3163 or via e-mail at brooks@nlc.org.
|