Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. will travel to the People’s Republic of China this week to meet with Chinese government and business leaders, highlight bilateral trade and investment opportunities between the two regions and open a new California foreign trade and investment office.

The trade mission will include events in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen from Wednesday, April 10, through Tuesday, April 16.

The governor will be joined by a delegation organized by the Bay Area Council that includes approximately 90 business, economic development, investment and policy leaders from throughout California. Senior administration officials will also accompany the delegation.

“California’s exports are booming and our place in the world economy has never been stronger. Our ties with The People’s Republic of China in particular are deep – from the Chinese immigrants crossing the Pacific in 1848 to hosting China’s next President in Los Angeles last February,” said Brown in his State of the State Address in January. “This year we will take another step to strengthen the ties between the world’s second and ninth largest economies.”

The trip follows more than a year of significant diplomatic and business exchanges between the state of California and China.

In February 2012, Gov. Brown welcomed His Excellency Xi Jinping, then-vice president and now president of China, to California.

During the visit, Gov. Brown announced his intention to visit China, open a trade and investment office and form a China-California Joint Task Force to drive more collaboration, investment and trade between California and China.

Later in 2012, the Brown administration convened the inaugural Joint Economic Committee between California and China’s Jiangsu Province, hosted a Chinese delegation led by the vice minister of China’s Ministry of Commerce and met with a Chinese delegation led by Deputy Governor Xia Geng of China’s Shandong Province.

The state of California has not had a formal presence in China since the previous foreign trade offices were closed in 2003.