SHENZHEN, CHINA – On the final day of California’s weeklong trade and investment mission, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. visited Shenzhen, one of China’s top high tech and manufacturing hubs.
Governor Brown on Tuesday met with Shenzhen Party Secretary Wang Rong and discussed cooperation on trade, investment and climate change and later toured BYD, a Shenzhen-based company pioneering electric vehicle and battery technology.
“We want to cooperate closely with you,” said Governor Brown in a meeting with the Shenzhen Party Secretary. “We want to trade more, we want to sell more, we want to buy more and we want more of our people to come to Shenzhen and we want more of your people to come to California.”
Shenzhen is the financial center of Southern China and was the country’s first Special Economic Zone.
After meeting with the Party Secretary, Governor Brown toured Shenzhen-based BYD, an automobile and battery manufacturer. BYD’s U.S. headquarters is located in Los Angeles and the company plans to open a manufacturing facility in Lancaster, where ten electric buses will be built for the city of Long Beach.
The Governor’s visit to Shenzhen capped a week of exchanges with business and government leaders to boost cooperation and collaboration between California and China.
On Monday in Guangzhou, Governor Brown spoke at a forum hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce – South China, met with Guangdong’s Governor and Party Secretary and announced two agreements between California and Guangdong to build stronger ties with China’s most populous and economically productive province.
On Sunday, the Governor visited California’s Chinese sister-state, Jiangsu, and signed an agreement to partner on climate change, technology, education and tourism.
Last week, Governor Brown traveled to Shanghai where he opened the California-China Office of Trade and Investment, spoke at Visit California’s news conference and met with Shanghai’s top government official, Party Secretary Han Zheng.
This followed a number of events in Beijing, including remarks at Tsinghua University, meetings with China’s Premier, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, a forum with the American Chamber of Commerce – Beijing and a reception at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing with the U.S. Ambassador to China. The Governor also met with the Minister of Commerce and Minister of Environmental Protection, signing the first agreements ever between a subnational entity and Chinese Ministries.
The Governor’s trade and investment mission followed more than a year of significant diplomatic and business exchanges between the State of California and China. In February 2012, Governor Brown welcomed His Excellency Xi Jinping, then-Vice President, and now President of China, to California. During the visit, Governor Brown announced his intention to visit China, open a trade and investment office and form a China-California Joint Task Force to drive more collaboration, investment and trade between California and China. Later in 2012, the Brown administration convened the inaugural Joint Economic Committee between California and China’s Jiangsu Province, hosted a Chinese delegation led by the Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Commerce and met with a Chinese delegation led by Deputy Governor Xia Geng of China’s Shandong Province.
Joining the Governor on the trade and investment mission was a delegation organized by the Bay Area Council that includes approximately 90 business, economic development, investment and policy leaders from throughout California. Senior administration officials also accompanied the delegation.
Photo captions can be found below:
1.) Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. shakes hands with Shenzhen Party Secretary Wang Rong.
2.) Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. speaks with BYD founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu.
3.) Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and First Lady Anne Gust Brown take a tour of the BYD headquarters in Shenzhen.
For high resolution copies of these photos please contact Samuel Chiu, Office of the Governor at Sam.Chiu@gov.ca.gov.
Photo Credit: Nova Wang