Littlefield To Pile Up Frequent Flier Miles To Far East

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Mayor Ron Littlefield will be garnering some major frequent flier miles to the Far East over the next two months.

He leaves Monday for a trip to both Korea and China.

The mayor has been invited in October to make a presentation about Chattanooga's success at Hitachi City, Japan.

Later in October, he will be going back to China with a group of mayors. Then he will meet up in Japan with Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and state economic development directors.

Mayor Littlefield said he is hoping to be able to combine all the October events into a single trip.

He said, "There's a lot of economic opportunity in the Far East. Korea is one of the great economies of Asia, and China is rapidly emerging.

"Chattanooga manufacturers are interested in these markets, and they are also interested in ours."

Trevor Hamilton of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce will be among those going on the Korea trip. Seong Glickman of the local Korean Society has helped with arrangements.

Mayor Littlefield said he will visit Chattanooga's sister city in South Korea, Gangenung, and also go on to the sister city, Wuxi, in China.

Todd Womack of the mayor's office said there are efforts underway to get a meeting with the mayor of Seoul, Korea.

Mr. Womack said Chattanooga was one of several cities invited to Hitachi City to make presentations at a conference dealing with successful city building. He said costs of that trip will be covered by Hitachi City.


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