Wuhan Municipal Government visit to Atlanta on December 11, 2014
The National Association of Chinese-Americans (NACA) put together an agenda for the visit from the Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office the Wuhan Municipal Government led by Director Johann Zhou (Mr. Zhou Jianwen), Division Chief of American and Oceania Affairs Division. The other members of the 3-member delegation were Director Lu (Lu Feng) of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Division, and Director and Madam Lan Zhihua of HK and Macau Overseas Chinese Office. This was a short one-day visit organized and arranged by NACA via Chair Lani Wong. The small delegation also visited Pittsburgh, Wuhan’s Sister City.
Lani escorted the delegation members to meet with City of Atlanta and Invest Atlanta the morning of December 11, 2014. The purposes of the visit to Atlanta were:
1) To invite Atlanta Mayor Reed to visit Wuhan in September of 2015 in conjunction with Wuhan hosting the 2015 World Green City Forum
2) To invite overseas Chinese to participate in Wuhan the June 2015 Conference on Chinese Pioneering and Development in China (web-site www.hch.org.cn)
3) To ask NACA to assist in inviting local companies to attend the World Green City Forum
The delegation exchanged ideas on future cooperation and to strengthen the friendship cities of Wuhan/Atlanta that was established a few years ago via trade and delegation visits. The delegation members met with:
Noah Downer, Protocol Officer, Mayor’s Office of International Affairs
Betty Garner, Office of International Affairs
Rain Wei, Intern at International Affairs Office, City of Atlanta
Randi Mason, Invest Atlanta Officer
The same night NACA hosted dinner for the new friends of Wuhan. Representing NACA were Lani, Steven Gu, Jin Jin, Ethel and Jung Mar, Elaine and Henry Yu, and CS Kiang and his wife. Director Zhou invited NACA and members to visit Wuhan in 2015 (either in June or in September) to identify ways to increase cooperation on investment and trade between Wuhan/Hubei and Atlanta. Our previous friend Hubei Commerce Department Head Zhou Xianwang is now the Deputy Governor of Hubei province. We conveyed to Director Zhou that there is a company called American Air Filter International that had established a small manufacturing plant in Wuhan few years ago (AAF’s China headquarters is in Suzhou). If we were to visit Wuhan in 2015, we need to include AAF, which is based in Norcross. AAF’s annual sales were $750 million in 2013 and is a subsidiary of Daikin Group of Japan.
2014年12月11日武汉市政府访问亚特兰大
全美华人协会（NACA）为武汉市政府代表一席人来访亚特兰大安排了一天的日程。武汉市来访代表包括武汉市人民政府外事办公室美国和大洋洲处处长周建文、港澳事务办公室处长卢峰和兰枝华女士、以及港澳海外中国办公室的处长。此次来访由全美华人协会的会长李秀兰女士（Lani Wong）组织安排接待。除亚特兰大市，武汉市政府代表还参观了其姊妹市—匹兹堡市。
2014年12月11日上午，Lani女士带领代表团参观了City of Atlanta 和Invest Atlanta. 此次访问亚特兰大的目的如下：
1) 邀请亚特兰大市长里德先生（Reed）于2015年9月参观武汉市并参加武汉市举办的2015年世界绿色城市论坛
2) 邀请海外的中国人参加2015年6月在武汉举办的华侨创业洽谈会（详情请访问：www.hch.org.cn）
3) 请求全美华人协会帮助邀请美国当地企业参加世界绿色城市论坛
武汉市政府代表与美方交换了对未来合作和加固亚特兰大和武汉市之间亲密关系的想法。此次武汉市政府代表会见的人员包括：
- 亚特兰大市长办公室国际事务部礼宾官Noah Downer先生
- 国际事务办公室Betty Garner女士
- 亚特兰大国际事务办公室实习生Rain Wei
- Invest Atlanta的投资顾问Randi Mason女士
当天晚上，全美华人协会为武汉市政府代表提供了晚宴。代表全美华人协会出席这次晚宴的成员包括李秀兰、顾振华、 Jin Jin, 李杏秀、Jun Mar, Elaine Yu, Henry Yu, CS Kiang和他的妻子。周处长诚挚地邀请了全美华人协会以及其会员于2015年访问武汉市。周处长希望借此访问可以确立促进武汉和亚特兰大之间商贸合作的方案。我们告知周处长全美华人协会的旧相识前湖北商务厅厅长周先旺先生现担任湖北省副省长。我们还告知周处长美国的爱美克公司（American Air Filter International）几年前落户于武汉市，其中国总部在苏州。如果我们2015年造访武汉市，我们将和在诺克鲁斯市的爱美克代表一同前往。爱美克是一家非常优秀的企业，是日本大金集团的旗下子公司。其2013 的年销量为7亿5千万美元。