Event Detail

Steve Dunlevie welcomes Madam Ma Xiuhong. (Click photo to enlarge)

Welcomes China's Vice Minister of Commerce

Womble Carlyle was the exclusive host of a dinner welcoming the China delegation to Atlanta on Thursday, May 10, 2007 at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's Rooftop Pavilion in downtown Atlanta. The private dinner welcomed China's Vice Minister of Commerce, Madam Ma Xiuhong, who is leading a delegation of over 100 governmental and business leaders on a multi-city tour for a buying mission to purchase U.S. products and services.

More than 170 guests attended the dinner, which included Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, Georgia State Senator Judson Hill, and Greg Pridgeon, Chief of Staff to Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. The delegation's visit to Atlanta was the second stop in a six-city tour, which also includes San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Richmond and Washington, DC.

Womble Carlyle was invited to host the dinner, which, in part, resulted from the Firm's two-week business tour of China in March. During the tour, a nine-member delegation met with Chinese business leaders and officials representing U.S.-owned companies in China, as well as Chinese companies operating in America. The itinerary included meetings with the Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office, the American Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Commercial Service, the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone and the Jiangsu Province’s Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.

Georgia Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and Hans Gant, Senior Vice President of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, talk with Madam Ma Xiuhong. (Click photo to enlarge)

The Georgia-China Alliance, the North Carolina China Center and the North Carolina Department of Commerce assisted the firm in setting up various business meetings.

At the dinner, Steve Dunlevie, Managing Member of Womble Carlyle's Atlanta office, presented a gift to Madam Ma Xiuhong and offered a welcome toast to the delegation. Guanming Fang and Kirk Watkins, both of whom attended the firm's business tour of China, served as translator and emcee respectively for the event.