The Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation was pleased to host a six-member delegation from the Hong Kou District of China on Wednesday, November 25 at EDC Offices in Lanham, Maryland USA.This group was interested in government agency employee training programs, economic development programs, business attraction, the development of opportunities for businesses in Shanghai and business networking. The group included Ms. Xiangrui Kong, Vice-Administrator, HongKou District People's Government Shanghai Municipality; Mr. Zhu Keija, Dir., Bureau of personnel; Mr. Wang Liqiang, Dir. Shanghai Hong Kou Educational Bureau; Mr. Jinpeng Chen, Dir., Local Administrative Office of HongKou District of People's Government, Shanghai; and Mr. Yang Li, Deputy Dir., Bureau of Health.
The six-member Hong Kou delegation from Shanghai, China join County officials and EDC staff at the end of a morning briefing.
While at EDC, the delegation received information about business attraction and retention programs in the county, small business assistance programs, county human resource management programs, minority business programs (NCMBOC) and the county's International Business program at EDC. EDC was joined by Burt Oliver of the Workforce Services Corporation to discuss county workforce services partnerships and training programs invaluable in the arena of international business operations. Mr. Xinmin Li, Representative of the US-China Science Park in College Park in Prince George’s County provided nformation about his company's search for advanced technology companies from China that may be interested in locating in Prince George’s County, improved and efficient exports and the desire to build partnerships with China.Other members of the International Business Strategy Committee held talks with the delegation about business issues that county businesses may face as they expand their operations to China.
In a working meeting, representatives from the Hong Kou District of Shanghai listen to a discussion by Burt Oliver of the Prince George’s Workforce Services Corporation about workforce development programs.
The delegation introduced their interest in an exchange of experiences between the Hong Kou District and Prince George’s County to bring the two jurisdictions closer together to bridge understanding.They were most interested in how Westerners manage their affairs to enable them to establish contact with the Chinese business community in Hong Kou as talks develop. This is the first of many future missions to develop trading opportunities for county businesses.
The Hong Kou District has an Open Door City policy. The District is approximately the same size as our county in land area with much greater density in population. They were very impressed with our planning techniques, concern for quality of life for our citizens, the number of available transportation corridors and the amount of green space and trail systems in "Gorgeous Prince George’s". Hong Kou faces severe environmental pressures as the District's population continues to increase.
