In front of a packed house, Jack Kyser, the chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., talked of both the dangers and possibilities of globalization, in his keynote address at the Valley International Trade Association’s annual Southern California International Trade Conference held on Oct. 21. The theme of the conference was “Going Global,” and nearly every panel touched on the sea change currently occurring in the world economy. Ultimately, Kyser and fellow keynote speaker Leslie Parks, a principal at Leslie Parks Consulting, touched on the same theme: that the Valley and California need to take a new approach to international trade. “We need to constantly look for export opportunities,” Kyser said. “If we encounter barriers to exporting, then we need to complain loudly. Another thing that we need is to become engaged in solving the perceived problems of international trade, such as highway and rail capacity and environmental problems. Los Angeles needs to become a true champion of international trade because we’re at a tipping point and these problems need to be solved.” VITA, a component of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, was successful in getting various types of exhibitors at the conference. The types of booths ranged from local companies focused on international trade such as GlobalReady Translation and Pomegranate International, to the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports, the Consulate General of the Netherlands, the Hungarian Investment Trade Development Agency, the Czech Republic, the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, the Polish Consulate and the British American Business Council. The booths seemed to be doing a brisk activity as people continually popped in and out between the international trade panels that went on throughout the all-day event. James Keller, the vice president of business development for Woodland Hills-based translation company, GlobalReady said that the event was positive for his company. “It brings together lots of various agencies in the Valley that are interested in international trade. We came here to have a chance to learn more about what the outlook is for exporters this year. We’re also here to find other companies to provide our translation and interpretive services to, and it’s a great place to do that,” Keller said. Bruce Ackerman, the president and CEO of the Economic Alliance, was also pleased with the event. “The speakers got across the fact that we’re increasingly living in a global community. You don’t have to visit China to do business in China,” Ackerman said. “The whole effort is to expand people’s horizons and allow them to realize how easy it is to do business internationally. Eight years ago when we started out, the emphasis was on how to do business, now it’s where to do business and the whole concept of outsourcing.”
