(Archived Content)
Seattle, Washington
As Prepared for Delivery
On behalf of U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, I am pleased to welcome Shanghai Vice Mayor Tu and this distinguished delegation of Chinese city leaders and executives to Seattle for the first-ever U.S.-China Initiative on City-Level Economic Development.
I am delighted to be among this group of local officials from cities across the United States attending the National League of Cities’ Leadership Academy on “Local Economic Competitiveness in a Global Era.”
In my current role as Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development, I am involved with U.S. economic policy across a broad range of issues, including trade and investment policy and financial sector regulation. China is among the most important counterparts for the United States on these issues.
Through mechanisms such as the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, our two governments have developed strong working relationships that have allowed us to make progress on economic issues of core importance to citizens of both of our nations. The Initiative on City-Level Economic Cooperation is an effort by both of our countries to promote this same, deep cooperation at the municipal level.
Strategies to boost economic competitiveness ultimately become effective only when they make an impact on the ground – whether that is in the form of a new rail line that moves goods more quickly, or a credit facility that provides growth capital to innovative start-up companies.
But in my experience, the most fascinating aspect of economic development is the challenge of achieving results in one’s local community, while also staying closely attuned to developments in the broader world – for new sources of economic opportunity and of know-how. In today’s global economy, these insights can come from cities just down the road – or on the other side of the world.
That is why I am so excited to be taking part in the Initiative on City-Level Economic Cooperation, a partnership between the Departments of Treasury and Commerce, the National League of Cities, and China’s Ministry of Finance.
This afternoon, I will join leaders from five U.S. cities as they meet their counterparts from China for a unique policy dialogue.
During the policy dialogue, our U.S. and Chinese mayors will exchange views and share best practices on the economic development of cities, including: how best to promote high-quality job growth and foster innovative new companies; how to integrate city-level economic planning within larger regional economic clusters; and how to plan and finance investment in urban infrastructure that best improves people’s quality of life, and promotes energy efficiency and sustainability.
As just one example of the common issues that our cities share, consider two sister cities that are represented here today: Chattanooga, Tennessee and Wuxi. In the 1970s, Chattanooga was grappling with one of the highest levels of pollution in the country, coupled with job losses from de-industrialization. Today, through decades of determined local leadership, Chattanooga is praised for its environment stewardship that has fostered a high quality of life, and the city is now home to a diversified mix of manufacturing and service industries, including a $1 billion new production facility that a foreign investor, Volkswagen of America, will open this year.
Wuxi, a dynamic industrial city near Shanghai, is now undergoing a similar transformation. The city’s leadership has mounted an ambitious effort to clean up Lake Taihu, and to position Wuxi as one of China’s leading “eco-cities” that develops clean energy technologies.
The second session of the Initiative on City-Level Economic Cooperation will be hosted by the U.S. Commerce Department. It will feature another kind of cooperation: direct investment by Chinese enterprises in the United States.
Investment, whether it comes from domestic or international sources, is critical to the success of U.S. cities. Foreign investors play a particularly important role, not only by bringing new, high-paying jobs to our communities, but also by contributing to the diversity – of people and ideas – that make cities great.
I want to be very clear in stressing that the longstanding U.S. commitment to welcoming foreign investment fully extends to Chinese firms.
From South Carolina to Pennsylvania to Texas, Chinese firms employ an increasing number of Americans, and are becoming key parts of U.S. communities. As our local and business officials get to know each other better, in part through events like this, China’s direct investment in the United States will continue to grow, to our mutual benefit.
Thank you.
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