Las Vegas Welcomes 48th WTCA General Assembly

Las Vegas, NV, USA - The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® launched the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) 48th General Assembly on Sunday, April 2, with an official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the World Trade Center Las Vegas and the World Trade Center Santiago. The partnership will help enhance international business relationships between the two destinations. Through the agreement, Las Vegas and Santiago will co-market under the World Trade Center brand creating access to key trade information, market research, and facilitate business trade missions around the world.

The MOU signing ceremony helped kick off the General Assembly held April 2-5 at the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center. The annual event drew more than 200 registrants representing 90 different WTCs from around the world. With an estimated 90-percent of the participants hailing from outside of the United States, this year’s attendants represented 33 countries including Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Finland, Holland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Gibraltar, Turkey, Cyprus, China, Korea, Taipei, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, Ghana, Australia and Philippines.

Featured speakers during the opening session included: Rossi Ralenkotter, president/CEO, LVCVA; Gary Shapiro, president/CEO, Consumer Technology Association; Richard Swanson, director, Pacific South Network, U.S. Commercial Services; Kristopher Sanchez, director of international trade, State of Nevada; Jonas Peterson, president/CEO, Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance.

In addition to the MOU with WTC Santiago, the WTC Las Vegas has signed memorandums of understanding with WTC Montevideo, WTC Dulles Airport, WTC Taipei, WTC Mexico City, WTC Brussels, WTC Beijing, WTC Miami, WTC Istanbul, WTC Seoul, WTC Sao Paulo and WTC Ft. Lauderdale.

The WTCLV also has a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration to promote travel and tourism exports.

PHOTO: Scott Ferguson, from left, CEO of WTCA, Pedro Pablo Alamos Zañartu, president of the WTC Santiago, Gary Shapiro, president/CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, and Chris Meyer, WTCLV vice president of global business sales, display the Memorandum of Understanding.