Remarks by Rockard J. Delgadillo
Deputy Mayor, City of Los Angeles

On behalf of Mayor Riordan, who is sorry he could not personally be here, it is my great honor to welcome you to the City of Los Angeles. We are proud that Los Angeles has gained the distinction as a world center of international commerce.

These are exciting times in Los Angeles. Our economy is recovering from five years of recession, as measured in jobs, job creation, tax revenues and new business starts. In fact, the Mayor is fond of saying that if you haven't been to LA in 5 yeats, then you haven't been to LA.

In the past year, Los Angeles has increased its lead as the nation's number one trade center. In 1997, imports and exports through the Los Angeles Customs District increased 9% to $185 billion.

Los Angeles is not just a gateway for goods moving through our ports and airport. In fact, earlier this year Los Angeles surpassed Chicago as the number one provider of manufacturing jobs. Los Angeles will enjoy the long term benefits of being both a manufacturing and trade center.

Although the Asian economic crisis has taken a toll on Los Angeles' trade numbers, we are better positioned to absorb these downturns than the rest of the nation. In a recent month, for example, we lost 29,000 manufacturing jobs, but we gained 205,000 jobs in our whole economy, thanks to robust gains in services, trade and construction.

Right now, despite Asia's problems, the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles International Airport are operating close to capacity. In fact, August was the busiest month at the port in its 91-year history.

Our diversity and large immigrant population are tremendous assets for competing in the global market. Immigrants axe entrepreneurial and provide natural inroads in their native countries.

Our economic development plan takes a long-term view. The focus of the new Los Angeles economy is on the high growth industries such as entertainment, multimedia, biotechnology and fashion. In Los Angeles, the average personal income rose more than 5% last year and is expected to rise another 5% this year.

Los Angeles' high-end labor force is a strong selling point in an era of just-in-time inventory. Although our city may have higher labor costs, our skill, efficiency and market proximity makes Los Angeles very competitive.

One important reason for our business expansion and attraction is our strategic location for international trade. We offer a geographic proximity to Asia that East Coast cities cannot offer. We are also able to communicate with Asian executives during mutual business hours. In addition, the Southern California region represents the largest retail market in America.

Our Ports and Los Angeles International Airport will provide the necessary infrastructure and support for our economy in the 21st Century.

The Port of Los Angeles is the second busiest container port in the U.S. and, when combined with our neighbor in Long Beach, we are the third busiest in the world, behind Hong Kong and Singapore. Cargo trade through the ports is expected to double during the next 20 years. Projects are already underway to accommodate the demands that this increased traffic will bring to the area. One of the major projects is the Alameda Corridor.

The $2 billion Alameda Corridor project is a 20-mile state-of-the-art express railroad connecting the ports to the transcontinental rail yard network near downtown Los Angeles. It consolidates 90 miles of rail operations into a single high-capacity route. It will create a faster and more efficient means of import cargo distribution through the U.S. as well as a means to move U.S. exports to overseas markets. Construction of the Alameda Corridor itself will create 10,500 jobs.

Passenger traffic through Los Angeles International Airport is expected to increase more than 60%, to 98 million passengers annually, by 2015. As with the Port, air cargo traffic b also projected to double in the next 20 years. LAX is the second busiest cargo airport in the world, and number one as measured by total cargo value.

The LAX Master Plan is critical to maintaining our position as an international trade leader. This multi-billion dollar expansion will add one to two new runways, a new terminal and expanded existing terminals, expanded cargo facilities and a people- mover system to connect all terminals and link the airport to outside transportation systems.

International trade is a strong initiative for the Mayor and the City of Los Angeles In order to better focus these efforts, the Mayor established a high-level International Trade Advisory Board and added a Director of International Trade, Chief of Protocol and a Director International Affairs to his staff.

They will work with the Mayor's very successful Business Team and Minority Business Opportunity Committee to ensure that economic prosperity reaches all corners of the City.

The City also created the LA Office of International Trade, which is operated through a public-private partnership by the World Trade Center. The LAOIT offers LA-based companies free expert assistance for business expansion into the global marketplace.

In February, the Mayor led a 15-day, eight city Asian Trade Mission. It was the most ambitious and complex overseas trip of his administration with a strategic business focus.

The business executives that accompanied the Mayor had high praise for the arrangements made on their behalf. The meetings wore pertinent and fruitful and the result is the successful creation of new trade relationships.

Trade in the 21st Century may well be more in knowledge and innovation than in goods and services and Los Angeles is well prepared to meet those demands.

Los Angeles has the infrastructure, diversity and entrepreneurial spirit to move quickly and develop new industry.

Los Angeles will be the "new Rome" with all roads leading to the center of international trade — the Capital City of the 21st Century!

Thank you.