WTC Mumbai organised an interactive meeting with a High-Level Business Delegation from Los Angeles to discuss areas of collaboration between both the countries.

Speaking at this event, Mr. Stephen Cheung, President, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and CEO World Trade Center Los Angeles said, “Los Angeles is excited to partner and support India’s aspiration to become the third largest economy by 2027. We are here to strengthen people to people and business connections with India and this is the prime time to strengthen our partnership as India is the fastest growing economy today. Los Angeles can collaborate with India in infrastructure, green energy, clean technologies, cyber security, fintech, trade and logistics. Our delegation representative from Los Angeles World Airports is in discussion with India to establish direct air connectivity with our city.”

Mr. Cheung hinted at sports diplomacy as the potential area of business collaboration with the slew of high-profile sports events lined up in Los Angeles. We want to organize one of the cleanest and greenest Olympic games. We need Indian collaboration in electric vehicles, setting up electric charging stations, renewable energy and so on. Indian tech companies can also offer cyber security, fintech and other cutting-edge technologies for our sport events. Our city government will issue around 1,000 business contracts to prepare for the upcoming Olympic games.

Highlighting the competitive advantage of Los Angeles, Mr. Cheung mentioned that although Los Angeles is prominent for its world-class entertainment industry, there is a lot more to our economy beyond entertainment sector. Los Angeles County is the center of international trade as 43% of America’s sea cargo moves through its ports and it is ranked the number one customs district in the country. Los Angeles is the leading manufacturing county in America, especially in cosmetics, medical equipments, high-end denim, Industry 4.0 (next generation manufacturing) technologies.”

Pointing out to the areas of collaboration with India, Mr. Cheung highlighted, “Bioscience, aerospace, defence are some of the emerging areas of collaboration as Los Angeles has strong presence in these sectors. Los Angeles wants to share its air purification technologies with India as it has transformed from being the smoke capital of the world in 1960s to a clean city.”

In her remarks, Ms. Allison Clark, Vice President, WTC Los Angeles pointed out, “Today, the top five sources of foreign direct investment into Los Angeles are Japan, UK, Germany, France and Canada. Very soon, I expect India to be among the top five sources of FDI into our city. We would like to work with India on five different approaches of economic development, and these are: business assistance program, workforce development, industry cluster development, research and international trade.”

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, WTC Mumbai pointed out, “India-USA trade value has crossed USD 130 billion last year and it can cross USD 200 billion in the next three years. Los Angeles can be the new growth driver of our bilateral trade.

Dr. Kalantri assured that WTC Mumbai will sign MoU with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation to promote trade, investment, technology, tourism and education between both the sides.

Ms. Rupa Naik, Executive Director, WTC Mumbai proposed vote of thanks for the event.

In Photo: (From left to right) Mr. Stephen Cheung, President, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and CEO WTC Los Angeles; Ms. Rupa Naik, Executive Director, WTC Mumbai; Ms. Allison Clark, Vice President, WTC Los Angeles and Dr. Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, WTC Mumbai