Miami chamber team jetting to China and Hong Kong

The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce is jetting off to Asia in April for an Americas Linkage business development trip to China and Hong Kong.

The delegation is to make stops in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing and Hong Kong from April 13-25.

Americas Linkage is a chamber program that facilitates business development opportunities through a series of business missions throughout the world. Linkage missions include country briefings, business meetings, seminars and networking opportunities.

“During our trips we try to elevate the business profile of South Florida,” said Hernando Gomez, chair of the chamber’s International Business group and director of business valuation and litigation support at MBAF.

“Basically, our role is to educate and facilitate business opportunities,” Mr. Gomez said.

“It’s a hard endeavor to put Miami on the map,” he said. “Americas Linkage has been around for many years and has concentrated on better-known markets like Latin America, Europe, Spain and France, but for a few years we’ve been trying to put efforts together to understand what is going on in Asia and see how our members can benefit from it.”

This mission will be the chamber’s third official trade mission to the region and will take a maximum of 20 people.

Chamber officials hope to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

“Hong Kong is a good gateway for companies who want to do business in China or in Asia,” Mr. Gomez said. “Hong Kong is a large recipient of Chinese investments as well, so companies don’t have to go to mainland China to take advantage of those investments or those investors.”

Just as Miami serves as the gateway to Latina America, he said, Hong Kong serves as the gateway to Asia.

In the past, delegations have included attorneys and bankers and representatives from sectors such as the financial services, real estate, trade, and import-export.

This time around, organizers plan stops at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and Guangzhou’s Canton Fair, one of the largest import-export trade fairs in Asia.

“The American Chamber of Commerce in South China has a mandate that if businesses want to go global, they need to go to the US and do business here,” Mr. Gomez said.

“Most of them are concentrated in states familiar to them, like New York, California and Texas, so we’re trying to beat that and see what opportunities we can offer them here.”

The delegation is also planning to visit the Florida International University campus in Tianjin.

“I think Hong Kong and Miami are very similar,” Mr. Gomez said. “Hong Kong connects the mainland and we connect the US, and we’ve been very warmly welcomed, so we want that type of partnership to continue.”