It is a great pleasure to extend this invitation to you to participate in the first Alabama-China Partnership Symposium

To my mind, there is no more significant bilateral relationship in our lifetimes and those of our children and grandchildren than that between China and the U.S. It is vital for global economic growth and peace in our time that the many elements that bind our countries take precedence over those that separate us.

We believe that industrial investment between our countries is a critical method of enhancing our common interests. Our focus is on creating reciprocity through Chinese Industrial and service industry investments in the U.S., and particularly in Alabama, as a mirror reflection of the myriad of U.S. industrial and service industry investments in China.

Concurrently with the faltering economy in the U.S. in recent years, there has been a politically understandable increase in protectionism in its various forms, much of which has been aimed at Chinese imports. Resolving disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a lengthy and tedious process. In the same amount of time, Chinese companies faced with reality or the threat of protectionism can build a facility in the U.S., establish their multi-nationalism here, and cement their position in the American market using American workers. This is a win-win situation, and a path that has already been successfully followed by Japanese, Korean and German manufacturers.

Our goal is to become the clearinghouse for constructive ideas, the clearing up of misconceptions, and the constructive implementation of Chinese Greenfield investments in the U.S.

Ours will be an ongoing dialogue among interested participants involving real working sessions with results measured, and followed by additional meetings in China in the summer, and follow-up meetings in Alabama in the fall.

Please join us as we seek to make progress on the important issue of binding our two countries together through common economic and industrial interests.