Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti noted "deep cultural ties" between his city and China during a Nov 22 business luncheon hosted by the China Enterprise Council in Beijing. Yang Yao / China Daily

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a luncheon in Beijing that he is committed to supporting Chinese entrepreneurs who want to break into the US market and to connecting LA businesses with partners in Asia.

The luncheon was hosted by China Enterprise Council to welcome the mayor's delegation on Nov 22. More than 40 US and Chinese government and business leaders attended the session along with Garcetti, including members of the Los Angeles city council and top executives from flagship enterprises such as AVIC international, Industrial Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Southern Airlines.

"Los Angeles and China have deep cultural and economic ties, and I thank the Chinese Enterprise Council for furthering reciprocal business exchanges and cooperation between us," said Garcetti.

"Los Angeles is a global city and the American capital of entertainment, manufacturing, and international trade," he said. "I look forward to a new level of exchange and partnership that will bring prosperity for everyone on both sides of the Pacific."

At the event, the Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the City of Los Angeles signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the development of RMB business.

Gu Shu, senior executive vice-president of ICBC, said that the internationalization of the RMB was the new trend.

"ICBC would like to take this opportunity to set Los Angeles as its RMB business trading center of California, to provide services to both American and Chinese clients, including clearing, settlement, remittance and foreign exchange," he said.

Wu Guangquan, president and chairman of AVIC International, said that in recentyears his company had invested billions of dollars in the US.

"We not only completed a series of acquisitions, transactions and collaborative projects, but in the process, we also made many American friends, such as our friends from Los Angeles who are here today," he said.

Sherman Zhang, president of the China Enterprise Council, presented Garcetti with calligraphy artwork by a 74th-generation descendant of Confucius. The four characters on the painting are: "Guang Jie Shan Yuan", wishing that Garcetti makes lots of friends in China and further enhances the good will between the countries.

yangyao@chinadaily.com.cn