Global Trade Helping Valley, Speakers Say

Even without a harbor or a major cargo-shipping airport, the San Fernando Valley is reaping benefits from the growth in international trade, speakers at a regional trade conference said Thursday.

“We haven’t even scratched the potential yet for international trade,” Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said of the Valley and the broader Southern California region.

Kyser was among the keynote speakers at the Southern California International Trade Conference, sponsored by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. The event attracted more than 200 people interested in tapping into foreign markets--including shipping companies, bankers and a few small-business owners.

Kyser noted that the Valley benefits from the growth in international trade because of the entertainment industry (which reaped $6.9 billion in international box office receipts in 1999) and in the growth of high technology.

“Look at the advanced tech companies in the West Valley,” he said. “A lot of those firms are owned by immigrant entrepreneurs.”

Speakers noted that with the recent move in Congress to approve permanent normal trade relations with China, and with the election of free-market minded Vicente Fox in Mexico, trade opportunities will begin to grow.