Los Angeles Is Poised for Green and Global Growth

Thanks to all the global leaders to attend the Global Chamber® Los Angeles Business Meetup today. We aim to open doors to new business opportunities regionally and globally. Thank you to our speakers and to all who attended for sharing their global business expertise.

We hold metro meetups virtually everywhere including Los Angeles metro. Globinars are currently held on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, alternating morning and afternoon. So much opportunity!

Agenda

1. Doug Bruhnke briefed on Global Chamber®

2. Discussion by 3 on international update

- Christine Peterson - Director of Int'l Trade & Investment at Mayor Garcetti's Office: Update

- Brian Swords, Consulate General of Japan in LA: Investment by Japanese firms in the US.

- Sam Nangia, Founder at India Global Advisors: Trends from an LA / India / Asia perspective.

3. Introduce members on the call

Some notes from the meeting...

First from Christine Peterson, we heard that the City of LA has started to plan for the 2028 Olympics, and the natural global tie-in. Mayor Garcetti recently delivered the 3rd Annual State of the Global City address HERE.

City of Los Angeles has like the rest of the world been through hell and back with Covid-19. In LA as an example, 57 people died in the Northridge earthquake of 1994, and for the past year, the City has suffered an average of 60 deaths per day for 365 days. Stunning.

On the positive side, over 600,000 doses of vaccine have been administered in LA.

On the exports side, the region has taken a hit. The LA region still represents one third of all California exports and LA metro is still the 3rd largest exporting metro after Houston and New York City. However over the past year, exports are DOWN 19%, representing US$11.7 billion LESS revenue for exporters and tax dollars. Export declines by quarter are improving.

Year on year results from 2019...

• 1Q20 down 9%
• 1Q20 down 37%
• 3Q20 down 16%
• 4Q20 down 10%

One of the key areas for regional development builds off Mayor Garcetti's "Green New Deal", and includes such segments as sustainability overall, zero emission vehicles, low energy loss buildings, clean water management, waste management and hydrogen power.

The decline of international students in the U.S. has been particularly hurtful, but there is optimism with a new day in the U.S. with better understanding of the value that these students bring to the U.S. that a resurgence is imminent.

Thank you as well to Brian Swords of the Consulate General of Japan in LA for a wonderful presentation on the dynamics of what's happening in Japan and how they are positioned for the future. And we jointly shared about the upcoming event on Thursday, March 18th that spotlights the opportunities of Japanese companies to invest in Arizona. Today AZ has only 10% of the foreign direct investment by Japanese firms, but it is believe they are well positioned to increase their contribution in the future. Here's more on the upcoming globinar HERE.

And in retrospect, watch for a blog post and video in wrap-up. In the meantime here's a post that briefly summarizes the event HERE.

An interesting data point shared by Brian was that Japan is the number one country for FDI in California, just edging the UK. And overall in the US, Japanese FDI is US$60B, over 3X higher than the days when Japanese companies purchased Pebble Beach and there was a backlash in the US on FDI by Japan. The country has managed all that very effectively to in the ensuing decades!

Thank you to Sam Nangia for sharing on LA - India - Asia opportunities, many of which are related to sustainability.

Thanks to all our speakers today including Professor Roberto Ancis, Jeff Daar and more. Campbell MacKintosh wins the prize for furthest away by zooming in from Melbourne, Australia, with Rod Laver Stadium over his shoulder, mid-morning next day.

Thank you global tribe! Be global and UNSTOPPABLE!

All the best, Doug Bruhnke

Global Chamber® Los Angeles