On Nov.29, Chinese Consul General Qiu Shaofang held a luncheon at his official residence for Mr.Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of the city of Los Angeles and his entourage, who are to visit China at the beginning of December. Present at the luncheon were Deputy Mayor Matt Karatz, former US Ambassador and former US Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor, Senior vice president Ms.Patti Mcjanett, Marketing at LA INC, Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, Deputy Consul General Liu Xianfa, Deputy Consul General Sun Weide, Commercial Counselor Shu Luomei, Education Counselor Chen Zhunmin and some other guests.

                                                     

Consul General Qiu welcomed the mayor and all the guests. He spoke highly of the good relationship between China and Los Angeles. He said, Los Angeles has been playing a role as a bridge between China and the U.S.. He also mentioned that China's market has a huge potential, and it will import a huge amount of goods in the next 5 years, whose value is as high as 8 trillion dollars. He hoped that Los Angels City would take advantage of this opportunity and further promote its practical cooperation with China.

 

Mayor Villaraigosa said, the main purpose of his visit to China next month was to further strengthen the friendly relationship between Los Angeles and Chinese cities, promote bi-lateral and two-way trade and investment, and attract more Chinese visitors to Los Angeles. He expected that this visit would strengthen Los Angeles' cooperation with China in economy, tourism, education and some other fields.

                                                 

Mayor Villaraigosa also said that Los Angeles City would support and actively participate in the U.S. educational program of sending 100,000 American students to study in China, and would continue promoting American government's effort to simplify the procedures for Chinese citizens to apply for U.S. visa.

 

After the luncheon, Consul General Qiu Shaofang and Mayor Villaraigosa had a brief press conference. They introduced to the media recent development of China-U.S. relations and the arrangement for Mayor Villaraigosa's coming visit to China. Both of them answered some related questions raised by the media as well.