The official affiliation between Miami-Dade Countyand Cape Town, South Africa, as Sister Cities is oneimportant step closer.

The Miami-Dade County Board of CountyCommissioners passed a resolution at its July 10meeting endorsing the Declaration of Intent signedby Miami-Dade County and Cape town to becomeSister Cities.

In a spirit of friendship and mutual trust, both Cape

Town Mayor Hellen Zille and ITC Chair,Commissioner Natacha Seijas, signed that documentwhen ITC took a mission to South Africa last April.

Now that the Board of County Commissioners hasendorsed that Declaration of Intent, the next step isto notify Cape Town officially and invitethem to pass a similar resolution so thatthe mayors of the two communities cansign the Sister City agreement.

The Miami-Dade Sister Cities pro-gram went on a Cultural andBusiness Development Mission tothe Bahamas June 27th through30th. The mission, which was ledby Miami-Dade CommissionerDennis Moss, reaffirmed the closecultural and economic ties thatexist between the residents ofMiami-Dade County and the citi-zens of the Bahamas, and metwith and congratulated the newlyelected Bahamian governmentofficials on the results of the recentelections and invited them to bring

a government and trade delegationto Miami-Dade County in the nextyear.

There was an intense schedule ofmeetings that included all topnational and local governmentofficials as well as the main cultur-al entities.

Working closely with the BahamasChamber of Commerce in Nassau,there was ample opportunity forthe Miami-Dade business repre-sentatives traveling with the mis-sion to participate in the match-

making schedule of meetings.Many explored enhancing theircommercial activities in theBahamas.

At the end of the missionCommissioner Moss announcedthat a scholarship in the amount of$1,500.00 would be granted byITC to a Bahamian student inMiami-Dade County to attendMiami Dade College.

Planning of the mission beganwith the Sister Cities Bahamas

THE MIAMI-DADEGLOBAL TRADER

Volume 3 - Issue 11 July 2007

Commissioner Moss Led A SuccessfulSister Cities Mission to the Bahamas

Members of the Miami-Dade delegation, members of the Bahamian government and invited guests pose with HisExcellency Arthur Hannah, Governor General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Message from Charles GibsonChair of the Miami-Dade

Sister CitiesBahamas Committee

Rarely do I feel as proud of anendeavor as I do about the SisterCities Mission to the Bahamascarried out last month. As chairof the Bahamas Committee Iwas looking forward to it. I amhappy to report that the goalswere more than met, they wereexceeded.

Certainly, the mission resulted ina stronger relationship with ourfriends across the Gulfstream,and it opened new opportunitiesfor trade and cultural exchanges.

Among some of my favoritemission highlights are the fol-lowing:

Our first courtesy call was at theOffice of the Prime Minister,and there were met by theHonorable Zhivargo Laing,Minister of State in the Ministryof Finance. The finances of theBahamas and Miami-Dadecounty are very integrated, andit was very evident by the wordsof Minister Laing.

Another memorable moment waswhen we visited GovernmentHouse, where we were receivedby His Excellency Arthur D.Hannah, Governor General,whose personal charm andunderstanding of the Bahamasgave us a unique perspective ofour neighbor.

In all, Miami-Dade Countycompleted its first ever missionto the Bahamas by bringing ourtwo Sister Cities closer, if thatwas ever possible.

Miami-Dade and Cape Town are CloserTo A Sister Cities Agreement

(Read more on page 2)

Miami-Dade County’s Sister Cities

Asti, Italy

Asuncion, Paraguay

Commonwealth of the Bahamas

Cayman Islands,B.W.I.

Iquique, Chile

Kingston, Jamaica

Lamentin, Guadeloupe

Maldonado, Uruguay

Mendoza, Argentina

Monagas, Venezuela

Pereira, Colombia

Petit Goave, Haiti

Pucallpa, Peru

St. Kitts & Nevis Island

San Jose, Costa Rica

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic

São Paulo, Brazil

Stockholm, Sweden

Tenerife, CanaryIslands, Spain

Taipei, Taiwan

Turks & CaicosIslands

Veracruz, Mexico

THE MIAMI-DADE GLOBAL TRADERPage 2

July 2007

Bahamas Mission BroughtTwo Neighbors Together

(Continued from page 1)

Meeting with the College of theBahamas: From left to right: JayneHodder, President, the College of theBahamas, Dwayne Wynn, ITC Board ofDirectors, Tony Ojeda, ITC ExecutiveDirector, and Dr. Linda Davis, VicePresident for Research, GraduateStudies and International Relations, theCollege of the Bahamas.

The ITC delegation visited theoffices of the Port of Nassau. Seated

at the table, from left to right:Dwayne Wynn, ITC Board of

Directors, Bill Johnson, Director, thePort of Miami, Collimae Ferguson,Deputy Port Controller, Ministry of

Maritime Affairs, Miami-Dade CountyCommissioner Dennis Moss, and

Tony Ojeda, ITC Executive Director.

At Nassau International Airport:Ernesto Rodriguez of the Miami-DadeAviation Department, seated, right,and other members of the Miami-Dadedelegation, listen to the presentationby Lory Chambers, Vice President ofOperations, and Craig Richmond,Chief Executive Officer of NassauInternational Airport. Standing in theback is Bill Johnson, Director of thePort of Miami.

Mission Committee, chaired by Charles Gibson, whoworked to develop a proposed agenda for the trip.After meeting with Bahamian officials at the ConsulateGeneral of the Bahamas in March, Sister Cities staffbegan planning the specifics of the trip working withBahamian Consul General Alma Adams and ConsulSandra Carey to develop the formal agenda.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Dennis Moss,who was instrumental in forming the Miami-DadeCounty's Sister Cities affiliation with the Bahamas in1995 and serves as Honorary Chair of the Sister CitiesBahamas Committee, agreed to serve as missionleader.

Sister Cities Mission to the Bahamas

THE MIAMI-DADE GLOBAL TRADERPage 3

July 2007

A Large Group FromMiami-Dade Traveled To

The Bahamas

Bahamian Consul General Alma Adams and Miami-Dade CountyCommissioner Dennis Moss prepare for "Bahamas at Sunrise", alive television interview program.

Exploratory Mission To IndiaWill Plant Miami-Dade's Flag

The participants in the Miami-Dade Sister Cities mission to theBahamas included several senior members of the top economicdevelopment organizations in Miami-Dade County as well alarge contingent of representatives of the business community.The mission was led by Miami-Dade County CommissionerDennis Moss, Honorary Chair, Sister Cities Bahamas Committee.

Also participating were Judge Margarita Esquiroz, a member ofthe Sister Cities Coordinating Council, Roddy Gomez, repre-senting the Office of Mayor Carlos Alvarez, Tony Ojeda, Jr.,Executive Director, of the Jay Malina International TradeConsortium of Miami-Dade County, Bill Johnson, Director ofthe Port of Miami, Charles Gibson, Chair, Sister Cities BahamasMission Committee, Laurice Hunter Scott, a member of theSister Cities Coordinating Council, and Dwayne A. Wynn, onITC Board of Directors and chair of its Global AffairsCommittee.

Other participants included Ernesto Rodriguez, AviationMarketing Specialist of the Miami Dade Aviation Department,Joe Xirau of CAMACOL, Charita Denise Allen, representing theBeacon Council, Phillip Butz, of Rexel USA, Eric Johnston, ofTriton Power; Francisco Chong of I.T. Professionals, MartaCarreras of Letty Enterprises, Eduardo del Rio, of Red Trading,Ignacio Ingelmo, of Universal Equipment Suppliers, RyanPinder, of Becker-Poliakoff, Tony Brooks, of the South FloridaFilm Festival, Carline Bido, an aide to Commissioner Moss, andAdam Peters, Sister Cities staff.

The ITC Exploratory Mission to "Incredible" India is quicklybecoming what will be one of the most historic journeys theorganization has undertaken. With stops in both of India's largestand most important cities, Mumbai and New Delhi, the missionwill seek to "plant" the flag of Miami-Dade County in the Indiansub-continent, a country of 1.1 billion with the world's 12thlargest economy.

"We will be promoting Miami-Dade as a global trade destinationin a part of the world where we are still kind of a mystery," saidCommissioner Natacha Seijas, ITC Chair.

"This will be the first-ever mission from Miami-Dade County toIndia and I believe it is probably the first mission from Florida,"said ITC Executive Director Tony Ojeda. He indicated that dur-ing a working trip to Washington, D.C. with ITC Chair,Commissioner Seijas, meetings with Indian embassy officialsrevealed that the nature of the first mission to India had to besomewhat different from other ITC missions.

"I don't think that the Indian international trade community hasan understanding of Miami-Dade's capabilities and what we canoffer them," said Ojeda. "They do not really know our role as atrading platform for the Americas and our mission will focusspecifically on bringing that message to them."

And beyond bringing the message to India, the ITC mission willalso have the additional goal of being an exploratory journey thatwill seek to develop an understanding of the Indian economy andthe country's needs in international trade.

WorldCity Business magazine reported in its March 2007 editionthat Miami-India trade skyrocketed 49 percent to total $277 mil-lion in 2006. The United States is already India's largest tradingpartner. Bilateral trade between the United States and lndia isexpected to increase to approximately $60 billion by 2008.

It has the third largest economy in Asia behind Japan and Chinawith total GDP of approximately $797 billion. There is a largeand growing middle dass of 325 million to 350 million peoplewith disposable income for consumer goods, a situation creatingexcellent opportunities for bilateral trade and tourism for Miami-Dade County.

The Miami-Dade economic development and business groupsthat have indicated they will participate in the mission are theBeacon Council, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, thePort of Miami, and Miami International Airport.

According to Mr. Ojeda the potential for additional air routesbetween Miami International Airport and India is enticing forairport officials. And the Port of Mumbai is one of the largest inthe world.

"We know that India has a trading presence in the Caribbeanbecause of the Indian communities in Guyana and Trinidad-Tobago, and other parts of the eastern Caribbean, but there is noawareness of the other capabilities we have for trade with theentire hemisphere," said Ojeda.

The University of Miami's Bascom Palmer EyeInstitute and the University College London's (UCL)Institute of Ophthalmology from the UK signed anagreement to develop research activities of mutualinterest. The two institutes were brought together bythe British Consulate General's UK Trade andInvestment team in Miami, who sponsored BascomPalmer's trip to London in early May. XimenaPrelle, Vice Consul of UKTI and lead officer on thevisit says, "We are very excited to see these twowonderful organizations working together towardsthe further advancement of medicine. We are confi-

dent that this is only the beginning of a new era ofcollaboration between our two countries." Amongother things, Bascom Palmer has expressed interestin benefiting from the Institute of Ophthalmology'sexperience in clinical trial development andresearch, stem cells, and psychophysics. The BritishConsulate General plans to sponsor a team fromLondon for a reciprocal visit to the Bascom PalmerEye Institute in Miami next year. For more informa-tion pls. contact: annette.hugues@fco.gov.uk.

Pictured above are Emma Tibaldeo, Sister Cities Coordinating Council, Commissioner Sally Heyman, Taipei ProvinceGovernor, the Honorable Hsi-Wei Chou, and ITC Executive Director Tony Ojeda. The picture was taken when a large del-egation from Taipei County, Taiwan, visited Miami-Dade County to better understand port construction issues at the Portof Miami and to explore new trading opportunities. Taipei County is a Sister City to Miami-Dade. Commissioner Heymanreceived the Taipei delegation during an official welcoming ceremony. The Governor extended an enthusiastic invitationto Commissioner Heyman to lead a Miami-Dade delegation to Taipei County. During the visit, the ITC presented its videohighlighting trade facilities in Miami-Dade County and the Taipei delegation also presented a video. CommissionerHeyman and Governor Chou exchanged gifts.

Delegation From Taipei Province, Taiwan IsWelcomed by Commissioner HeymanCarlos Alvarez

Mayor

Board of County Commissioners:

Bruno BarreiroChairman

Barbara J. JordanVice Chairwoman

Barbara J. JordanDistrict 1

Dorrin D. RolleDistrict 2

Audrey M. Edmonson District 3

Sally A. HeymanDistrict 4

Bruno A. BarreiroDistrict 5

Rebeca SosaDistrict 6

Carlos A. GimenezDistrict 7

Katy SorensonDistrict 8

Dennis C. MossDistrict 9

Sen. Javier D. SoutoDistrict 10

Joe A. MartinezDistrict 11

José "Pepe" DiazDistrict 12

Natacha SeijasDistrict 13

Harvey RuvinClerk of Courts

George M. BurgessCounty Manager

Robert A. Cuevas Jr.County Attorney

THE MIAMI-DADE GLOBAL TRADERPage 4

July 2007

Commissioner Natacha SeijasITC Chair

Tony OjedaExecutive Director

The Jay MalinaInternational Trade Consortium

Stephen P. Clark Center111 N.W. 1st Street

Suite 2560Miami, Florida 33128Phone: 305-375-5808

Fax: 305-679-7895www.miamidade.gov/itc

Roberto FabricioEditor

Please note that dates are subject to change.To announce upcoming events please call

305-375-4750.

Events

Miami and London Universities Sign CooperationAgreement to Develop Joint Research Projects

August 8, 5 to 7 p.m.The ITC Executive Committee Meeting111 N.W. 1St, 3rd FL, Conference Room Contact Ricardo Bran at 305-375-1254

August 15, 6 to 8 p.m. Unveiling of the Poster and Meet the ArtistReception for the Sister Cities Art Exhibit. Trattoria Sole, 5894 Sunset Dr.Contact Mayda Rescendi at305-375-5280

August 23, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.Summer Quarterly Luncheon, The BrowardAlliance premieres the 2007 Who’s Who inEconomic Development publication.Sheraton Fort Lauderdale, 1825 Griffin Road,Dania. For registration: Joan K. Goodrich at954-627-0127