On April 15, London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, California, kick-started her visit in China this week. Mayor Breed attended a meeting with dozens of local entrepreneurs in Shenzhen, opening up in-depth dialogue on the cooperation between San Francisco and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
More business partnerships
Right upon her arrival, Mayor Breed was greatly impressed by the level of hospitality in China. "I will say that visiting here, and even though I've only been here (Shenzhen) for a day, the hospitality is outstanding." she shared with GDToday.
Mayor Breed met with several major high-tech companies in Shenzhen and pointed out many of these companies have strong presence in life science, artificial intelligence, biotech and so on. They hold some similarities to those back in San Francisco. As San Francisco now stands as the AI capital of the world, she envisions there are endless possibilities to develop business relationships between the two sides, and her delegation will work to build bridges for these companies on this trip.
A panda from China
Mayor Breed also came to China this time with the hope of bringing a panda back to San Francisco. "My plan is to do everything I can to make it clear that our San Francisco Zoo stands ready and willing and able to host pandas." she said. She also reiterated this is also a wonderful opportunity to strengthen people-to-people relationship between the two countries.
Direct flight sets to come
Mayor Breed stressed that a lot of work is being done to promote the tourism industry of San Francisco. She wants to include more international flights to the San Francisco International Airport, making it more convenient especially for business people and tourists. "We have a number of incentives for our airlines, with landing fee wavers and other things." she said.
She anticipates soon there will be a direct flight from Shenzhen to San Francisco. "We hope that this could be an opportunity for direct flight from Shenzhen to San Francisco as a way to again build on our relationship and our opportunities for tourism."
Up next, Mayor Breed will lead her delegation to Guangzhou, San Francisco's sister city Shanghai and Beijing for more in-depth exchanges and cooperation.
Reporter | Jersey
Editor丨Nan, Steven, Abby
