WTC Phila Chairman to visit WTC Tianjin, China

May 18, 2017

PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA - On May 18th, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported that the Philadelphia Department of Commerce will be participating in a three week trade and investment mission to Asia beginning May 23rd.

Gary Biehn, Board Chairman, WTCGP and Partner, White and Williams and Board Member Stephen Bradley and CEO, Bradley and Bradley, will be joining the mission. On June 1st, Gary Biehn, will also be meeting with leaders of the World Trade Center, Tianjin, China to sign an MOU between WTCGP and WTC Tianjin. The MOU will create a framework of cooperation which will seek to expand trade and investment in targeted sectors of opportunity, including healthcare, higher education, legal services, aviation, petrochemicals, metalworking, and the medical device sector. WTCGP Board Member Stephen Bradley, Lauren Swartz, Director of International Business Development for the City of Philadelphia and Siobhán Lyons, President & CEO, Citizens Diplomacy International will also attend.

This is the power of the World Trade Center in motion!

On June 2, 2016, the WTCGP hosted a meeting at White and Williams, for a delegation of 7 officials from World Trade Center Tianjin, China. Eric Cao, WTC Tianjin Executive Director and Deputy Division Chief, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and Zhang Tiejun, Deputy Director, People’s Government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, set in place the initial steps to explore expanded trade and investment opportunities between Tianjin, the Binhai New Area and Greater Philadelphia. Participants included WTCGP members and leaders of Philadelphia’s international business organizations. Located in northern coastal China, Tianjin is the fourth largest municipality with a total population of more than 15 million people. Tianjin is a hub city for international shipping and logistics, manufacturing and research, and development. Created in 2009, Tianjin Binhai New Area is located in the coastal region of the Tianjin municipality. Designated by the Chinese government as a special Free Trade Zone, Binhai has an international seaport, and an international airport and is a 33-minute high-speed train ride from Beijing. There are 141 Global 500 companies with operations in Binhai New Area.

In January 2017, Chairman Biehn made a follow-up visit to WTC Tianjin where he met with the WTC’s leadership, Vice Minister Dai Sheng Guo, Vice Minister Dijan Yi Min and Zhang Tiejun (who attended the June 2nd meeting in Philadelphia), recently appointed as a high-ranking health minister in the Tianjin government, with oversight of 6,000 medical institutions.

We look forward to providing follow-up information.

Wishing our Philadelphia delegation safe travels as they represent all of us on this economic development mission.

Media Inquiries:
Graziella DiNuzzo
​609-680-7670, gdinuzzo@wtcphila.org

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