Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to return to Asia on an 11-day trade mission in December, traveling with a contingent of city officials and business leaders to try to drum up jobs for the city.
The group, which will include port, airport and tourism officials, is scheduled to travel to China, Japan and South Korea, the city's three-largest trading partners. Asia is home to eight of the city's top 10 foreign-trade businesses, according to the mayor's office.
"We have had success in expanding investment across our city by Asian business leaders," Villaraigosa said in a prepared statement, "and will use this trip for crucial personal meetings, which we have found are a key tool and best practice in working with our friends in Asia."
The mayor and his cohort are set to travel to Beijing, Chongqing and Shanghai in China; Tokyo and Sendai in Japan; and Seoul in South Korea. They plan to hold dozens of meetings and events with government and business leaders, seeking to encourage firms to locate in L.A. and invest in local companies, to promote tourism, to press for more imports from L.A. and to tout the city's port. The mayor's office noted that the trip comes just after Congress approved a free-trade agreement with South Korea.
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