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CIAO DATE: 12/99
Asia and Houston
February 22, 1999
Thank you so much for that kind introduction. Let me first give a special thanks to the Asia society for their tireless dedication in bringing the vitality of Asia to our city. Your organization exemplifies the dynamic international flavor of our city.
I’m pleased to join you here today to discuss what I believe was the beginning of a very significant bridge between our city and east Asia.
As many of you know, I led a business development mission to east Asia during the first 2 weeks of February. I am pleased to say that it was a tremendous success. What I would like to do today is give you a brief outline of what we Wanted to accomplish and what we achieved during that trip.
Our trip was broken down into two main sections:
I will address both of these sections separately.
I went to Japan for two purposes. First, I traveled there to celebrate the inauguration of non-stop air service between Houston and Tokyo by Houston’s hometown airline, continental airlines. Second, my delegation and I went to build awareness of Houston in Japan and to open the doors to new opportunities in terms of trade and cultural and educational exchange.
Houston and Japan already share a fruitful relationship in many areas: Houston is the home of the Japanese consulate general for our region, and the office of the Japanese external trade organization, better known as jetro (jeh-trow). In addition, the Japan business association and the Japan America society of Houston create a steady flow of exchanges and activities and are great resources for Houstonians. The Johnson Space Center has a very active partnership with the national space development agency of Japan, called NASDA (naz-duh). Houston also has offices of some of Japan’s largest companies: Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Toshiba, and Nippon Steel just to name a few.
As I tried to convey during my many meetings with Japanese officials, Houston has a genuine interest in expanding our ties with Japan. Although the current economic situation in Japan should be taken seriously, we in Houston can look back at how our own recent economic difficulties turned around and feel confident that Japan will make a strong recovery. I am confidant that Japan will continue to be a very desirable trading partner.
Houston’s growing computer, space, and biotechnology industries are some areas where we might expand our collaboration with Japan. Through the establishment of continental’s direct flight between Houston and Tokyo, we should expect to see an increase in both tourism and commerce. For many Japanese, Houston will be seen as both a final destination for tourists and products, as well as a gateway for the Americas.
While in Japan, I had an opportunity to visit Houston’s sister city, Chiba, and meet with the honorable Asahi Matsui, the city’s mayor for over twenty (20) years. Houston and Chiba have shared a sister city relationship since 1972, although the two cities have continued a steady stream of exchanges for the past 25 years, I can confidential say that we will see new and exciting exchanges in the future, particulate in the area of youth exchanges. We are now studying the possibilities of establishing a youth exchange program. We can also expect to see the two cities exploring options for economic exchanges.
While this was not my first visit to Japan, it was an honor to represent the people of Houston in a country I very much admire. In previous visits to Japan, I studied their policing system. The koban, on which I modeled Houston’s current program of neighboring oriented policing.
Let me spend some time speaking about the China/Taiwan portion of our trip. This was my first visit to China and it was a memorable one.
Once again, our goal was to build awareness of Houston in China and Taiwan and to open new oppurtunnities in terms of trade, cultural and educational exchange.
While in China, my delegation and I visited Houston’ partner city, Dalian, and met with its mayor, the honorable bo, and other city department directors. Houston and Dalian have shared a partner city relationship since 1994. The two cities have continued a steady stream of exchanges for the past 5 years.
Mayor bo visited Houston in 1994 with 105 delegation members, during which both cities signed an agreement of friendly cooperation.
During my visit mayor bo and I signed:
The delegation also visited Beijing and I had the honor of meeting with President Jiang Zhemin of China along with U.S. Ambassador Sasser. During my conversation with the president, I expressed my desire for Premier Zhu to include Houston in his U.S. visit in April, I also discussed possibilities of a direst flight between Beijing and Houston.
I also met with Mayor Jia along with city directors and other government officials. The two cities signed:
a partner’s in high technology agreement,
a sister chambers of commerce agreement, which will facilitate business exchange between our two cities,
a cooperation agreement between Beijing’s children’s art theatre-China children’s literature academy and Houston’s express theatre. A breakthrough cultural exchange program designed to create multicultural awareness between children of both countries.
The greater Houston partnership and the sub council of China Council for the Promotion International Trade (CCPIT) coordinated meetings between members of Houston’s business community and Beijing business representatives.
The official delegation members and I also met with the Vice-Minister of aviation Mr. Shen Yuankang. We discussed the possibilities of expanding airline trade between Beijing and Houston and the possibilities of a direct flight between the two cities.
Mr. Sheen proved to be very well informed about Houston and it’s attributes and expressed a desire to visit our city.
During the last day in Beijing, enron China and I hosted a luncheon as our appreciation to federal and local officials, and business executives for their hospitality during our visit to Beijing. It provided a forum to promote Houston as an international city. guests included central government and Beijing officials, business executives and the Houston delegations.
While in China, I also had an opportunity to visit Houston’s sister city, Shenzhen, and meet with its mayor. Houston and Shenzhen have shared a sister city relationship for over 35 years. I can confidently say that we will see new and exciting exchanges in the future, particularly in the area of hi-tech industry and commerce. We can also expect to seethe two cities exploring options for economic exchanges.
The two cities signed:
I also had the pleasure of visiting a place I very much admire and had visited before-Taipei.
During my visit to Taipei, I had an opportunity to meet with the mayor, Ying- Jeou Ma, the deputy speaker of Taipei city council, Vice Minister Davis Lee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Premier Vincent Wan Chang Hsiao and Vice- President Chan.
I addressed three primary issues:
In conclusion, I consider this trip “extremely successful” just like I told the reporter from the China post in Taipei. We have not only established the government to government relationships with the cities we visited. We had trhe oppurtunity to promote Houston as a first class international city, and we have also opened the doors for our business community to do business abroad.
International trade is one of my major priority. This administration’s guiding principles is to work closely with a private sector on international trade and economic development to promote Houston worldwide.
I am dedicated to conducting business development missions to increase Houston’s visibility and vialbility to the international market.
Thank you.
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