Weidenbach & Associates is recruiting attendees from the South for the Japan-American Conference of Mayors & Chamber of Commerce Presidents to be held in the port city of Yokohama Nov. 13-16.
Bill Weidenbach, the firm’s principal, said that he is “optimistic” that Atlanta will be represented by at least one high-ranking city official and several business leaders. “These conferences have been dominated in the past by representatives of cities from the West Coast,” he told GlobalFax. “But with the number of Japanese companies in the Southeast, representation from Southeastern cities should be larger.”
Mr. Weidenbach’s territory extends from Texas to Virginia and he has been involved in discussions with officials stretching from Dallas to Norfolk to promote the event.
Mayoral elections in early November may cut into as large a turnout as he would like to see, he admits. Nevertheless, he remains confident that the opportunity to participate in the global networking event should prove to be irresistible to a large number of city officials and businesspeople from across the region.
The event also should reinforce any already existing ties between U.S. and Japanese cities such as those linked through the Sister Cities International organization, according to Mr. Weidenbach who attended his first conference at the behest of then-Mayor Maynard Jackson in Sendai in 1991.
“It was in Sendai that I had my eyes opened to the many possibilities offered by such venue networking,” he added. At a minimum, participants should benefit from the mini-trade fair that will be in progress with each city provided with free exposition space, he said.
For more information, Mr. Weidenbach may be reached by telephone at (404) 525-6663; fax, (404) 525-6658.