The buzz is all over the streets that secret is out!
Mayor of Chinese city visits Gary
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May 14, 2010
BY JON SEIDEL, (219) 648-3068
GARY -- A Chinese mayor dropped by Gary City Hall Thursday to talk about possible investments in the Steel City, Gary officials said.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said he met with Mayor Hang Gao of Xinmin City, Liaoning Province, for about an hour. Gao was on his way to New York City, Clay said, but took a tour of Marquette Park before he left town.
"He had his own interpreter with him," Clay said.
Specifically, Clay said Gao wanted to know about plans to establish an independent foreign trade zone at the Gary/Chicago International Airport, which would mean breaks on tariffs for foreign companies importing their merchandise through Gary.
"The airport itself would have to put in a formal request to the foreign trade zone board in Washington, D.C.," Clay said.
That process might cost as much as $25,000, Clay said, and previous members of the airport authority board might have been hesitant to pursue the idea. Clay made new appointments to that board earlier this year, though.
"I think the board we have there now, I think they would support it," Clay said.
Clay joined a group of local business leaders on a privately funded trip to China in May 2008, seeking international investments for Gary.
Those investments have yet to materialize. The Gary City Council ratified a sister-cities agreement with Fuxin, also of China's Liaoning Province, shortly after Clay's trip.
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