Special Program on Trade with China via Canton Fair and CIIE

Opportunity to Gain Insights and Connect with Executives Doing US-China Business

• Insights into the latest business and consumer trends in China
• Best practices to save time and money when doing business with China
• Cross border trade trends and opportunities including with China
• Sourcing products? Learn more on the Canton Fair to optimize results
• Exporting products or services? Learn about CIIE opportunities
• Networking. Meet other executives doing business globally and with China

Register HERE

This ½ day event will feature presentations from leading experts on doing business in China with a focus on leveraging trade fairs.

1. Canton Fair (134^th edition) cantonfair.org.cn geared towards sourcing products and services from China for imports into the US.
2. CIIE (China International Import Exhibition – 6th edition) ciie.org for enterprises aiming to enter or expand exporting to China.
3. Shanghai (host city of CIIE) warmly welcomes US enterprises to invest in the city.

FINAL AGENDA 

8:30am         Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:00am          Introduction of the conference by Vlady Cornateanu (Sino-America Business Development Company)

9:10am          Opening remarks, An Tran, Executive Officer, Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of International Affairs

9:20am          Remarks by Consulate General of The People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles, Zhang Jian, Commercial Consul.

9:30am          Shanghai Business Investment - Claire Shao, Chief Representative - Shanghai Foreign Investment Board, LA Office - Presentation of the CIIE trade fair

9:45am          Presentation of the Canton Fair – Vlady Cornateanu, Sino-America Business Development CO.

10:00am        Port of Los Angeles Trade Update, Marisela Caraballo DiRuggiero, Director of Trade Development, Port of Los Angeles

10:15am       Remarks by Bank of China, Branch Manager, Mr. Li Peng 

10:30am       Cross Border Payments and Pay into China with Zyla, Jeff Williamson, Int’l Business Development, Ant Group

10:45am        Global Chamber China network Doug Bruhnke, CEO/founder, Global Chamber®

11:00am        Presentation from SBA, Office of International Trade – Martin Selander, Export Manager

11:15am       Video presentation from Bay Area Council

11:20am       Presentation from China Southern Airline (there will be a raffle for a round trip ticket)

11:30am       Closing remarks by Vlady Cornateanu

Speakers

Vlady Cornateanu   

Founder/President at Sino American Business Development Company & President/CEO of Addiction/True Affair Apparel 

Vlady's professional life in the apparel industry started in the mid-'80s as a side job but developed very fast into a passion and a full-time business. The necessity to find the best factories to develop his own brands as well as private label for other companies, brought him to China and the Canton Fair in the mid '90s. The old Canton Fair venue on Lihua Lu was an extraordinary fair for a first-time visitor like Vlady and many early buyers to China. He realized that this fair could accomplish all his sourcing needs in one trip no matter what the product category might be. He placed his first orders there and when received in the US, he knew that the Canton Fair would be the only int'l sourcing trade fair for his business, and never looked back. His consulting side of the business opened doors for many other companies to do business in China. For the past 12 years Vlady represented the Canton Fair in the US, organizing promotional conferences, forming trade delegations to China and the Canton Fair. This is only a part of his China consulting business as in 2016 he also organized on behalf of the City of Los Angeles, an 18 days festival in Guangzhou, celebrating 35 years of the Los Angeles - Guangzhou Sister City Association. 

Doug Bruhnke

CEO at Global Chamber® and Acting Executive Director at Global Chamber® Los Angeles  

Doug is a global entrepreneur dedicated to helping members of Global Chamber® successfully reach new markets across 525 metros - everywhere! He is a two-time expat with Dupont in Tokyo and Singapore with 35 years of global business experience in nearly all countries and segments. Doug is a regional advisor for U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and a member of international groups including the Arizona District Export Council. He has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Utah, an EMBA from Michigan State University and 5 patents. Doug was born in Mount Kisco, New York and now splits time primarily between Scottsdale, Palo Alto and Los Angeles.

Marisela Caraballo DiRuggiero 

Director of Trade Development for the Port of Los Angeles

Port of Los Angeles is the busiest container port in North America. Marisela ensures the Port of LA fulfills its mission to connect U.S. businesses throughout America with overseas trade opportunities, particularly exports, through trade promotion seminars known as the Trade Connect program.

With extensive experience in public policy development, issues management and legislative advocacy, Marisela is also responsible for the outreach to professional associations and government agencies to promote specialized business opportunities in key commodity areas, with an emphasis on export cargoes. Additionally, Marisela oversees the function of intergovernmental relations with foreign governments, advancing the Port’s influence on expanding trade markets, and is the Port’s point person to the international diplomatic community. She has purposefully advanced the Port’s influence on the world stage by negotiating many sister port agreements promoting trade, environmental stewardship, infrastructure development, supply chain efficiencies, and increased security protocols.

As a result of her professionalism and accomplishments, Marisela was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve as a member of the District Export Council of Southern California to help promote U.S. exports and provide export education and assistance to small and medium size enterprises. 

Claire Shao  

U.S. Chief Representative at Invest Shanghai

Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board /Shanghai Overseas Investment Development Board (also called as “INVEST SHANGHAI”), established in December 1999, is a professional foreign investment Promotion agency under the administration of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.

The mission of INVEST SHANGHAI is to promote two-way investment, and support enterprises to make the best investment decision locally and globally. It maintains close collaboration with each district, development zone and overseas investment agencies' offices in Shanghai. Also, it has ten overseas offices in Los Angeles, Osaka, London, Frankfurt and Gothenburg to build up its global network.

Ms. Claire Shao is the newly appointed chief representative to the US office. She was the first secretary of Chinese Embassy Commercial department in Slovenia and Lithuania for six years. She would love to connect with you to explore the economic and trade cooperation between Shanghai and US companies, and move forward together.

An Tran 

Executive Officer, Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of International Affairs

An provides leadership for the department and oversees staff operations to promote trade for the Greater Los Angeles region. She also works to advise on policy to advance Los Angeles’ global engagement in the areas of international events, trade and investment, and international relations.

Ms. Tran previously served as the Special Assistant to the Deputy Mayor of International Affairs where she provided administrative assistance to the Deputy Mayor as well as managing various policy initiatives.

She received her B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations.

Jeffrey Williamson 

International Business Development Director at Ant Group

Jeffrey A. Williamson has 25 years global marketing experience in the public and private sectors, having conducted business in more than 50 countries (China, Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East) in consumer electronics, consumer package goods, defense and medical products. He is with the International Business Development team for Ant Group, a global fintech services company based in Sunnyvale, CA providing cross-border payments and collections solutions for e-commerce marketplaces and U.S. Exporters and Importers.

Prior to joining Ant Group, he led the California State Trade and Export Promotion Program (and CITD), which supported more than 1,000 California businesses to participate in more than 100 overseas trade missions/exhibitions, capturing over $200 million in exports. He was on-loan to the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GoBIZ) assigned by Governor Schwarzenegger – 2010-2012, to facilitate multiple Governor-led trade missions to China, Germany, Canada, Korea, Japan and Mexico. He launched several global projects for trade and education in cooperation with multiple U.S agencies and foreign governments supported by over $30 million in funding.  Jeff is currently a part-time faculty member at the Foreign Trade University in Hanoi Vietnam (since 2014) and has been a part-time faculty member of Global Marketing at California State University, Fullerton (2007-2022). Jeff has been a panel expert for the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC; worked with UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business on a study of the impact of Services Exports trade for California (2006); is a recipient of the President’s “E-Award” for export service excellence (2013), and Regional Export Program Partner of the Year Award (2018), Export Import Bank of the United States. He received a B.A. Economics from Arizona State University and an MBA from California State University, Fullerton.