Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez recently announced he will attend a 10-day trip to China that is funded by a nonprofit Silicon Valley organization working to facilitate business connections.
Velazquez will have all expenses paid on in his trip scheduled for May 21-30, with an option to stay an additional day until May 31. The mayor made the announcement at last week’s council meeting.
In a follow-up interview with the Free Lance, Velazquez said one of the organizing groups, China Silicon Valley, invited him on the trip. He will join other mayors and vice mayors from the region on the four-city tour. It is the fourth trip organized by the group since 2014.
The voyage is co-organized by a group called Plug and Play, while it is sponsored by a range of organizations such as the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing.
The goal is to “hopefully bring some businesses here,” Velazquez said.
“A lot of the Chinese now want a lot of produce or different things from the United States,” he said.
Velazquez said the group invited him last year but he couldn’t make it. He said no other family members are traveling with him, and that he will document all gifts and file whatever is necessary from the trip to comply with political practice laws.
