Welcome to The Senate Site

By Curt Bramble
Senate Majority Leader, blogging from Liaoning, China

After an arduous 30+ hour trip, including an unexpected weather-related delay in Beijing, we finally arrived in Shanyang, Liaoning Province, China at about 3:00 a.m. on Monday morning. We left Utah at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, so we lost Sunday en route.

After 1 -2 hours sleep, the delegation had two morning meetings. The first was with several officials from the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress including Mr. Zang Xilin, Executive Vice Chairman. This meeting was more formal, with our hosts expressing great hope for building a friendship between our state and their province. The 2nd meeting was a "roll up your sleeves" affair, with several Representatives of Liaoning Provincial Government Departments including the Provincial Department of Foreign Affairs; Provincial Department of Foreign Economic Trade; Provincial Department of Education, Provincial Department of Land & Resources; Provincial Department of Information Industry; Provincial Department of Culture; Provincial Department of Coal Industry Management; and the Provincial Department of Magnesite Resources Protection.

After the morning meetings, we were privileged to tour the People's Great Hall (similar to the Utah House Chambers) and had a rather informal lunch at the People's Great Hall. After lunch, we visited a BMW and China Brilliance automobile manufacturing plant. The BMW's produced in China are for internal consumption (a sure sign the Chinese economy is thriving). These BMW are manufactured to the same exacting standards as those manufactured in Germany. The China Brilliance auto is similar to a Hyundai and is offered in two models with 1.6 & 1.8 L engines. They seem to be an entry level auto.

China is experiencing unprecedented growth in the number of institutions of higher learning - both in terms of a traditional university education and highly-skilled vocational training. The Liaoning Province alone has 77 universities and colleges and 571 vocational institutions. We visited Liaoning University and discovered that college kids look the same whether in Utah or China. The province has participated in numerous exchange programs with approximately 1,000 foreign institutions and would like to see more educational exchanges with Utah. Some possible areas of cooperation might include research exchanges in natural resources and technologies.

The Liaoning Province is an industrial province and has rich natural resources, including coal, natural gas, uranium, and others. Department leaders discussed possible cooperation in the sharing of coal-bed methane extraction and utilization technologies, uranium extraction and refining techniques, geophysical exploration, and even the exploration and preservation of palentological sites. It turns out Liaoning has a rich fossil resource. Also, Liaoning leaders are interested in Utah's technology for monitoring and inspecting coal mines. Although they've got a rich supply of coal and have made great strides in mine safety, the Liaoning Province could benefit from Utah's expertise in mine safety technology, particularly with regard to gas and water suppression in mines. Senator Dmitrich is actively exploring those possibilities.

Even through the jet lag, our first days’ meetings have made clear that our friendship with the Liaoning Province can be mutually beneficial. They have an increasingly vibrant economy, yet there are specific areas where Utah's expertise, ingenuity, and resources can be of benefit to the province while allowing Utah companies to increase international investment under favorable conditions. We will continue to build our relationships with people here in order to create an environment for Utah businesses, universities, and others to make sure that our inevitably shrinking world turns out to be a better world - for all of us.

1 Comments:

 Anonymous said...

Wow, a 30 hour plane flight; two hours rest before your first meeting. I bet you were really in great shape to represent Utah's interest. Hope you can get some rest before going to the Opera, and seeing the Great Wall, and trying all that great Chinese food. Have fun. It's still hot here in Utah!

7/12/2007 10:25 PM  

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