On March 28, 2012, during a visit to the state of Alabama, Chinese Consul General Xu Erwen met with Governor Bentley in the governor’s office, and Lt. Governor Ivey in the City of Troy respectively. Mr. Canfield, Director of Alabama Development Office and Consul Yan Guohua, Consul Cao Derong from the Chinese Consulate were present.

Governor Bentley and Lt. Governor Ivey both welcomed Consul General Xu to Alabama. Governor Bentley said that the state of Alabama attaches great importance to friendly relations with China. Since taking office as Governor of Alabama in early 2011, he had supported a number of seminars on China and introduced preferential policies to enhance the cooperation with China and to attract Chinese investments, which have already yielded significant results. The state of Alabama will continue its efforts to further exchanges and cooperation with China. Governor Bentley also mentioned that he is expecting to visit China. Lt. Governor Ivey recalled her pleasant experience of visiting China with the delegation of the National Lieutenant Governors Association of United States last year. She said the state of Alabama benefited a lot from the economic and people-to-people exchanges with China. Lt. Governor Ivey expressed her desire to see more Chinese investments in Alabama and further exchanges with China in education, culture etc.

Consul General Xu briefed on the latest development of China-US relationship. She said that since China and US resumed contacts 40 years ago, the bilateral ties have grown tremendously, featured in the ever-deepening exchanges and cooperation in areas of economy, education and culture, which brought tangible benefits to the two peoples. Consul General Xu spoke highly of the achievements made by Alabama in promoting cooperation with China in recent years. She was impressed by the fact that Alabama’s exports to China increased by 1342% in the last 11 years, making China the 2nd largest export market for Alabama. She pointed out that the two countries are facing unprecedented opportunities of cooperation, citing the rapid increase of Chinese investment in Alabama and the deepening of educational cooperation represented by the successful expansion of the Confucius Institution at Troy University. She expressed her readiness to work together with the State of Alabama to further promote the cooperative relations between the two sides. Consul General Xu also welcomed Governor Bentley to visit China.

Conveniently seated in the southern heartland of United States, Alabama has well-developed agriculture, forestry, manufacturing and aviation industry. It also has very competitive tax policies for entrepreneurs and is rich in labor resources.