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Greenwich, Hangzhou China Sign Sister City Agreement

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Greenwich First Selectman Peter J. Tesei and Dr. Chengtao Jin, District Chief of Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, China, sign ‘Sister City’ agreement.

Greenwich First Selectman Peter J. Tesei and Dr. Chengtao Jin, District Chief of Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, China, signed a ‘Sister City’ agreement that will promote social, cultural and commercial relationships between the two municipalities, in a ceremony at Greenwich Town Hall on Tuesday, May 23.

Members of the Greenwich First Selectman’s Economic Advisory Committee (EAC) and local officials from Greenwich and Hangzhou attended the ceremonial signing of the resolution announcing the Sister City status between Hangzhou and Greenwich. First Selectman Tesei greeted the delegation of a dozen special guests, that was led by Tao Guo, Secretary General of Zhejiang International Hedge Fund Talent Association.

Tesei said, “This has been in the forks for a number of months. This will increase knowledge and understanding between us and will broaden and strengthen our ties.” Mr. Tesei added that the growing relationship between Greenwich and Hangzhou illustrates that “Greenwich continues to be a destination to work and to visit.”

Dr. Jin described the ceremony and visit to Greenwich as “a great honor. We are here to build a friendly relationship with Greenwich. We want to promote the business and actions of the people of each city and hope that Greenwich businesses will visit our district.”

Greenwich First Selectman Peter J. Tesei and Dr. Chengtao Jin, District Chief of Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, China.

Guo’s organization is planning to host an economic summit in Greenwich in coming months which is expected to attract at least 200 attendees. That summit is the first of what is anticipated to be three economic confabs to be held in Greenwich during the next three years, according to James Aiello, Chairman of the Greenwich First Selectman’s Economic Advisory Committee.

The signing ceremony is the culmination of a series of meetings and a fact-finding visit to Hangzhou last fall by Aiello, Greenwich business consultant Bob Lardon, and Bruce McGuire, founder and president of the Greenwich-based Connecticut Hedge Fund Association. Their meetings included attending a conference on Global Alternative Investments hosted by the People’s Government of Zheijang Province and the Asset Management Association of China.

The Economic Advisory Committee members then proposed to First Selectman Tesei that the Town of Greenwich create an ongoing relationship with Hangzhou with official status as a “sister city.”

As Sister Cities, Greenwich and Hangzhou will promote social, cultural and commercial relationships that will broaden and strengthen ties, developing cooperation through initiatives and projects that increase awareness that both cities are global financial centers. One of the initiatives will be an economic summit for leaders in the hedge fund industry that is to be held in Greenwich in coming months.

Interest in Greenwich as a financial capital and desirable location to conduct business, live and raise a family came to the forefront when a group of Chinese journalists visited Seattle, Wash., California’s Silicon Valley and Greenwich in 2013. They were guided by the future “fund town” architectural development team that provided first-hand impressions of what to emulate for returning ex-pat North American-educated Chinese so they could replicate living and working environments here in the United States.

Greenwich, ranking third globally in concentration of 380 hedge funds managing $350 billion in assets, became the model for developing Shangcheng, China’s first investment management commercial park, as a “fund town” just outside Hangzhou, which is home to China’s largest stock exchange. It is similar to Greenwich in that it is a short train ride from financial hubs such as Shanghai and has a high standard of living away from urban bustle of New York City.

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