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Story Archives: Mayo, others to mix business with pleasure in trip to China


Mayo, others to mix business with pleasure in trip to China
by Scott Rogers - posted Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 @ 2:23 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo and five others will travel to Monroe's sister city in China next week to promote economic opportunities for both communities.

Mayo will be joined by Monroe Police Chief Ron Schleuter, Monroe Fire Chief Jimmie Bryant, former ULM basketball coach Mike Vining, Dr. Paul Sylvester with ULM's College of Pharmacy, and Asian-American businessman Aaron Wang, who arranged Monroe's first meeting with its sister city, Jingzhou City.

"They've been over here three times," Mayo said. "We went over there in 2002 on a trade mission to try and seek opportunities, and of course, they're looking for opportunities over here as well."

"That's what the whole relationship is all about," Mayo continued. "It's centered around economic development, educational opportunities and this time, since I'll have the two chiefs with me, we'll focus on public safety."

"Our chiefs will met with their department heads and talk about ways we can help them in terms of modern technology in addressing law enforcement and public safety," Mayo added.

The group will spend about five days at Jingzhou City, and several days in Beijing. The group also will spend a day at Wuhan, the capital city of the Hubei Province.

"At each area, we'll talk to the Chinese government officials about opportunities, and follow up on our 2002 meeting, and some of the meetings we've had when they came here," Mayo said.

"The added bonus to this trip is the Chinese government has invited me to the opening ceremony to the Olympics on Aug. 8," he said. "This will be the first (Olympic games) for me, and I'm very excited about that. It's a tremendous opportunity for me, and quite frankly for the city of Monroe to be represented at the opening ceremony."

Wang, who owns Peking restaurants, does business with China. He has been able to expand his business dealings because of Monroe's relationship with China, Mayo said.

"That strengthens his operations here in the region because he has several businesses," Mayo explained. "And there's several other companies here that have been able to do business in China as a result of our relationship. We're going to first and foremost make sure that we strengthen those relationships. We also hope with Coach Vining to establish a relationship so the university would have an opportunity to exchange students and possibly have our college (basketball) team go over there and do exhibitions or have teams come over here. There may also be other opportunities as it relates to athletics."

Monroe has benefited a number ways by having a relationship with China, according to Mayo. Because of the relationship, Mayo said American Airlines asked the city to assist the airline in establishing a direct flight from Dallas to Beijing.

"We were able to get the Chinese government to send a letter on behalf of American Airlines to our federal government," Mayo said. "They would have probably received the designation had it not been for the pilots who didn't want to fly those extra hours. United Airlines got it instead."

"But the fact that we have this relationship, not only does that help us directly, but say, if American Airlines got the direct flight, it obviously helps their business, and the little 'ole city of Monroe would have played an important part in being able to help," Mayo added.

As far as educational opportunities, Mayo said China needs professors from the United States to teach children to speak English. He also hopes to encourage the Chinese government to send students to ULM, adding that the Asian population at the university has declined over the years.

"It also won't hurt being at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics because I'll have the opportunity to network with not only Asian people, but people from all over the world," Mayo continued. "I don't know what they have planned, but I'll have plenty of business cards on me, that's for sure. The whole idea is to raise the awareness of our city. The city is already on the map, but we've got to get on the radar. We want to be on the radar not only regionally, statewide and nationally, but internationally we need to be on everyone's radar."
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