(WASHINGTON, DC) – Mayor Vincent C. Gray announced today that Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor L. Hoskins and key staff, along with local university deans and professors, have returned from a District trade mission to China. On the nine-day trip, Deputy Mayor Hoskins and delegation members pursued several opportunities aligned with the District’s Five-Year Economic Development Strategy.
“I am pleased to learn from Deputy Mayor Hoskins that this trip— his third to China on behalf of the District – was a success,” said Mayor Gray. “The alliances and partnerships we forge in China will continue to attract companies, education exchanges and other investments to the District. This will not only expand our profile in the global marketplace, but also create additional tax revenues and jobs for our residents.”
To further the Five–Year Economic Development Strategy’s goals of establishing the District as the largest tech hub on the East Coast and the top North American destination for foreign investment, Deputy Mayor Hoskins and delegation members participated in a series of focused meetings on the trip, which included stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou.
During the mission, Deputy Mayor Hoskins discussed District investment opportunities with three of the five largest real-estate developers in China – Dalian Wanda Group, Greenland Group and Vanke. Additional meetings focused on the technology sector, and District staff met with key representatives from Chinese high-tech firms located in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park (including Founder Group and Lenovo). Zhongguancun is China’s equivalent of Silicon Valley, and the science park houses over 20,000 technology firms that employ 1.5 million people.
“The economic development work we performed in China is critical to a city such as ours,” said Deputy Mayor Hoskins. “This mission and its outputs demonstrate more than a ceremonial show of our international exchange efforts. We are committed to being a world-class city, and that will require continued global efforts to bring increased trade, educational advancement opportunities and more to the District.”
Participating university representatives from American University, Howard University, The George Washington University, and the University of the District of Columbia also partook in a total of 36 meetings with representatives from the Chinese higher-education community. The meetings were facilitated by the DC China Center in Shanghai, which Mayor Gray established in 2012. In addition, Dean Doug Guthrie of The George Washington University School of Business hosted university representatives within the District delegation for a tour of the university’s new campus in Suzhou. The DC China Center also served as the host to a reception for District universities’ alumni in Shanghai; the event attracted over 100 attendees.
“The District’s trade mission to China was a wonderful opportunity for Howard University,” said Barron H. Harvey, Dean of Howard’s School of Business. “The meetings, tours and special events were extremely helpful in understanding the importance of developing partnerships with China and its educational institutions and organizations. The meetings with China’s top universities and business schools proved to be extremely successful in our efforts to develop strategic partnership for our undergraduate and MBA programs. The relationship will provide educational opportunities for our students to study in an international environment and for our faculty to engage in collaborative research activities. Further, this proposed educational partnership has received the endorsement of China’s government officials, as well. Overall, I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the mission and found it to be extremely successful.”
"I thank the Deputy Mayor for leading a delegation of DC universities to China,” said Heather Elms, Associate Professor of International Business, Kogod School of Business, American University. “American University was pleased to be one of the four universities to participate. The mission clearly demonstrated the city’s strong support for collaboration among these universities in the important opportunity of engaging with Chinese universities."
For more information on the District’s international development work in China, please click DC China Center to learn more at the website of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.
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