Consummating a three-year courtship, U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican from Missouri, expects international cargo flights from China to start landing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport early next year.

Click for video of U.S. Sen. Kit Bond talking about turning Lambert-St. Louis International Airport into a cargo hub

Business, civic, and political leaders from around the St. Louis region formed a public-private collaboration, now known as the Midwest-China Hub Commission, to establish a partnership with China in late 2007.

Bond, who was in St. Louis on Friday to accept the 2010 Global Ambassador Award from the World Trade Center St. Louis at its annual luncheon to promote international trade, has led several trips to meet with leaders in China, along with U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri.

The delegation, consisting of local, state, and federal leaders, arrived back from their most recent trip to Beijing and Shanghai in early September with a signed memorandum of understanding between Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and the China Air Transport Association. The CATA will send a delegation with representatives from the Civil Aviation Administration of China and four Chinese airlines to St. Louis in October to meet with regional leaders.

“This is a dynamic opportunity for us,” Bond said, adding that the negotiations are nearing completion and that he expects to see the first air cargo shipments from China land in St. Louis starting early next year.

Click for video of Executive Director of the World Trade Center St. Louis, Tim Nowak, talking about trade

Acknowledging that this is an election year and that Bond is retiring, Tim Nowak, executive director of the World Trade Center St. Louis, told Missouri Watchdog that turning St. Louis into an international cargo hub is a topic that brings out bipartisanship.

“What we have here is an alignment of the business community and political support needed to make this work,” Nowak said, adding that he hopes to finalize a deal with China to start flying in exports this year.

The World Trade Center St. Louis is a division of the St. Louis County Economic Council. The keynote speaker at the luncheon was U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who talked about President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative and its goal to double exports over the next five years.

As Missouri Watchdog reported earlier this month, the Missouri Department of Economic Development is also working with businesses across the state to increase exports. Exports from across Missouri in the first two quarters of this year totaled $6.3 billion, an increase of 35 percent from $4.6 billion last year during the same period, according to WISERTrade and the Missouri Economic Research Information Center.

By Brian R. Hook, brhook@missouriwatchdog.org, (314) 482-7944

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