At the invitation of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the U.S. silicon valley mayors delegation led by Michael Brownrigg， mayor of Burlingame city, visited Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen from June 17th to 27th.

During their stay in Beijing, President Li Xiaolin met with the delegation and introduced the aims of CPAFFC, the association’s work during the past 60 years since its establishment as well as the recent exchanges and cooperation between China and the U.S. She conveyed the hope that after this visit to China, the delegation would know more about China and help to promote sister-city exchange, cooperation in high-tech industry and other fields. Zhang Xiangchen, the Assistant Minister of of Commerce, and Cong Peiwu, Director General of Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with the delegation respectively and exchanged views on China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation, bilateral relations and so on. Besides, the delegation visited Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park and had a meeting with local companies, seeking for opportunities for future cooperation. 

Zhou Bo,Vice Mayor of Shanghai and Tang Jie, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen, met with the delegation respectively, and expressed wishes to deepen cooperation with silicon valley on innovation, city management, education and other areas so as to draw successful experiences from the silicon valley.

Through their first visit, Michael Brownrigg and other mayors expressed their curiosity and appreciation on China’s fast development and their deep impression of Chinese government’s efforts on supporting high-tech industries and all this provided precious opportunities for cooperation between silicon valley and China. 

The delegation is composed of 11 mayors and vice mayors of the U.S. silicon valley. Famous transnational corporations like Apple,Google and Facebook set their headquarters in the silicon valley.