By Shera Dalin
Eschewing party lines, MissouriÕs highest ranking
congressional and State leaders, along with top locally-elected
officials, business and civic leaders, from St. Louis city and
county are working together to attract a Chinese air-freight and
commercial hub to St. Louis.
Sen. Kit Bond and Ma Xiuhong,
Vice Minister, Ministry of Commerce.
Sens.
Christopher "Kit" Bond, Republican, and Claire McCaskill,
Democrat, have thrown their strong support behind an effort to
make St. Louis a Chinese freight and commercial hub. Bond and
McCaskill invited China's ambassador Zhou Wenzhong to visit St.
Louis back in February to discuss the prospects of establishing
this hub in St. Louis. The Ambassador and his delegation were
hosted in St. Louis by the two senators and the RCGA. It was the
Ambassador's first visit to St. Louis.
Following
a six-day trade mission in March, the two senators along with
Democratic U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan traveled with a delegation
from Missouri to advance the talks in Beijing. To further show
bipartisan support for the deal, Republican Gov. Matt Blunt and
his predecessor Democratic Gov. Bob Holden, now vice chairman
of the U.S.-China Association, Mayor Francis Slay, County Executive
Charlie Dooley and area business leaders made the trek.
"Having
federal, state and local officials; Republicans and Democrats;
the business community and others coming together to present information
to the Chinese made a huge impression," Bond says. "I've
never been on a trip where we had all levels of government and
both parties represented. We had full support for the trade mission."
McCaskill says she is optimistic about the success of the mission, in part, because of the support for it across such a wide range of individuals and groups.
(Left to right): Sen. Claire McCaskill, Congressman William Lacy Clay,
Sen. Kit Bond and Ambassador
Zhou Wenzhong
on the Ambassador's visit to St. Louis.
"Our
bipartisan delegation has worked together during this trip in
an effort to create jobs for Missourians and to make a sincere
attempt to correct the trade imbalance between the U.S. and China,"
McCaskill says. "We are optimistic that our efforts will
pay off for our state and the Midwest region."
China
is Missouri's fourth largest export market and the senators say
there is great promise for more.
"The
fact that we had the access to the third highest man in the Chinese
government, that's about as good a sign as you can get,"
Bond notes. "They seemed to be very receptive to our proposals
because the preparations had been done."
Having once been a hub for TWA and completing a $1.1 billion new runway a year ago, Lambert can easily accommodate a great increase in Chinese freight cargo,
Bond says. While existing Federal Aviation Administration regulations will apply, no
federal legislation would be necessary to establish the hub at Lambert, he says.
The St. Louis delegation also took the opportunity to make the Chinese aware of the goods produced by several Missouri companies, whose executives were also present for the meetings in Beijing. Economic development officials on the trip began dialogue with their Chinese counterparts regarding opportunities for the many thousands of Chinese companies that are exploring opportunities to locate their U.S. operations.
"We
went there primarily to encourage the Chinese to use the air hub
at Lambert and make St. Louis the gateway to the Far East,"
Bond says.
He
and McCaskill say the end result if the cargo and commercial hub
becomes reality is creating more jobs for the region's residents.
"This
is an important milestone toward leveling the playing field for
trade with China," McCaskill says. "I'm happy to be
working in a bipartisan way to enhance the opportunity to export
manufactured goods and agricultural products from Missouri, which
will help our economy and create jobs here at home."
The
Midwest's agricultural exports to China are minimal, with live
animals being the largest category at $3.5 million followed by
industrial machinery at $180 million. The $260,000 in air value
in exports of dairy products increased 19-fold from 2004 to 2007.
If an agreement is signed, the potential to grow those markets
is enormous, experts predict.
"You
never can count on something until you sign it," Bond says,
Òbut improving relations and trade and export was our purpose."
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