On July 17, over 200 solar energy policy-makers and business leaders from Southern California and China attended the US-Jiangsu Solar Business Summit and witnessed a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between the City of Los Angeles and China’s Jiangsu Province. Deputy Mayor Freeman and Jiangsu’s Provincial Government Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (DOFTEC) signed the MOU. Jiangsu is a neighboring province of Shanghai and is one of the most economically vibrant regions in China.
The MOU provides for the two regions to exchange expertise required for a thriving solar technology sector. The agreement also promotes dialogue on business expansion in solar technology and will serve as a stepping stone to bring more solar technologies and manufacturing facilities to LA. Jiangsu is China’s top solar manufacturing region and is a target area for developing international linkages with LA's cleantech cluster. One solar company in the region, Suntech, located in Wuxi near Shanghai is one of the largest solar power companies in the world.
The City of Los Angeles sponsored the summit, which was designed to provide a platform for fostering a closer relationship between Southern California clean tech industry policy-makers and businesses and Jiangsu’s solar energy cluster. Deputy Mayor David Freeman gave welcoming remarks and highlighted the Mayor’s bold cleantech agenda.