Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will lead a delegation of four City Council members and 20 other officials on a 12-day trade mission to Asia starting tomorrow.
The city’s harbor and airport agencies – which manage the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles International Airport and LA/Ontario Airport – will pick up a $570,000 portion of the tab for the trip, which is aimed at drumming up business investment and tourism for Los Angeles.
The mayor’s office said additional trip expenses will be paid by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority footing $25,000 of the bill, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles covering about $23,000 and corporate sponsors putting in at least $30,000.
The mayor’s office list of confirmed sponsors include Universal Studios Hollywood, DFS, Greenland, Steinberg Architects and CJ Entertainment.
Los Angeles City Council members Gil Cedillo, Curren Price, Mike Bonin and Joe Buscaino will be part of Garcetti’s delegation as well as executive directors and officials from the city’s harbor and airport agencies.
Twenty-six people will be in the city’s delegation, including the mayor’s father – former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti – who like other non-city employees will be paying their own way on the trip.
A separate delegation of business people led by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, Los Angeles Business Council and Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce will also join the mayor on the trade mission.
Garcetti will spend the first week in China, where he will be visiting Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. He will then spend two days in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and one day in Tokyo.