NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of Missouri looks to expand trade and investment cooperation with China, which is "a key economic partner," Missouri governor said.
"Missouri has a 4.4-billion-U.S.-dollar trade agreement with China to facilitate expansion of trade and investment. We want to increase that number," Eric Greitens told Xinhua in an email interview on Thursday, ahead of his four-day trip to China.
The trip, which starts on Monday, will be Greitens' first international trade mission since he became Missouri governor early this year, during which he is expected to visit several cities and meet with Chinese business leaders.
"We want this trip to show the many reasons why businesses, investors and students should call Missouri their American home," Greitens said.
Explaining why he has chosen to visit China, the governor said the country is "a key economic partner for Missouri" and one of the Midwestern U.S. state's top export partners.
China is now Missouri's third largest trading partner and export market. In 2016, Missouri's exports of goods to China reached 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 76 percent from 10 years ago, while its exports to the rest of the world grew only 9 percent, figures from the U.S.-China Business Council show.
Missouri's exports to China supported 17,200 American jobs in 2015, the council said.
"Our delegation's goal for this trip is to strengthen our trade relationship and let China's business community know that Missouri is a top state to partner with and invest in," Greitens said.
The governor listed a wide array of industries that he believed China and Missouri share interest in growing, including manufacturing, health sciences, health services, technology, transportation and logistics, energy, automotive, financial and professional services, and biotechnology.
Great opportunities can thus arise for Missouri and Chinese firms to grow and invest with each other, he said.
China and Midwestern U.S. states have kept strengthening their economic and trade ties, with Chinese enterprises investing more than 1.1 billion dollars in Missouri over 16 years, according to the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago. The consulate covers nine states in the Midwest, including Missouri.
The state has been working to improve its business environment, the governor said, by cutting red tape to simplify and streamline regulations, and pursuing tort reform, among other efforts.
"We want China's business leaders to know that investments made in Missouri will have a solid return," Greitens said.
Also high on his agenda in China is his bid to strengthen Missouri's educational relationship with China and invite Chinese students to study in the state.
"Several of our top universities have educational partnerships with Chinese universities, and there is growing interest in China and Asia on many of our campuses," the governor said, citing the fact that his wife Sheena Greitens teaches about China and Asia at the University of Missouri.
Currently, over 6,000 Chinese students are studying in the state.
"We value those alumni as ambassadors for Missouri, and when they return home, we hope that they will maintain a lasting, lifelong relationship with their American laojia (a Chinese word meaning hometown)," Greitens said.
Missouri was among the first U.S. states to develop people-to-people exchanges with China.
In 1979, shortly after the United States and China established diplomatic ties, St. Louis in Missouri became the first U.S. city to have a sister city in China, which is the eastern city of Nanjing.
Today, Missouri has a number of sister-city relationships with China, plus a sister-state relationship with the northern Chinese province of Hebei.
"We value our multifaceted relationship with China and look forward to expanding educational and cultural relationships as well as strengthening cooperation on trade and investment," the governor said.
