News and Events – 2008

Henan Province Business Delegation

A ten-person delegation of business executives from Henan Province, then China’s most populous province (99 million), was hosted by the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee and the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) at an afternoon information and matchmaking session held at BDC’s headquarters. Attending from the Baltimore side were senior representatives from BDC, the Baltimore Mayor’s Office, M&T Bank, Cooper Wallace LLC, Christopher B. Miller Co., John S. Connor, Inc., Dartrans, Inc., the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland and the Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership.

Baltimore-Xiamen Dim Sum Brunch in Honor of Calvin Chin

More than 70 people attended this first annual dim-sum brunch to honor the late Calvin Chin, a patriarch of Baltimore’s Chinese community and a founding member of the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee. The event was held at Jesse Wong’s Kitchen in Hunt Valley. Former Baltimore Mayor and Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer was Honorary Chair of the event and many city and state dignitaries came to show their respects. Proceeds of this event went to support business, education and cultural exchanges between Baltimore and Xiamen.

Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership (MD-AEP) Public-Private Dialogue on Water Needs in Asia

The Maryland-Asia Environmental Partnership (MD-AEP) assembled a diverse group of public and private sector experts to discuss their unique perspectives on lessons learned, new technologies, and sustainability efforts which could be mobilized to help address Asia’s water needs. The Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee (BXSCC) was proud to be a Cooperating Partner in this event which was organized by Peter Gourlay, President of MD-AEP and Chair of the BXSCC Environmental Subcommittee.

China International Fair for Investment & Trade

The Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee organized and led a nine-person delegation of Baltimore business leaders to the 12th annual CIFIT in Xiamen from September 8th to 11th, 2008. In addition to attending the trade fair and representing their companies at the Baltimore booth, the delegation had one-on-one meetings with more than 100 Chinese companies from Xiamen and other areas of China.

Local participating companies included Cooper Wallace LLC, Infrastructure Architecture Group, Inc., John S. Connor, Inc., M&T Bank, and Rich Roofing LLC.

Also with the delegation was Jim Zhang, Chinese language teacher at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, who laid the groundwork for sister-school relationships and student exchange programs between Baltimore and Xiamen schools.

Annual China Town Hall Meeting at Baltimore City Hall

The second annual China Town Hall organized by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations meeting took place at Baltimore City Hall. Norman Ornstein of the American Institute for Public Policy Research spoke on the topic of “China Issues in the 2008 Presidential and Congressional Campaigns”. The Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee, the Maryland-China Business Council and the University of Maryland’s Institute for Global Chinese Affairs jointly sponsored the event.