Council Members Bring Their Agenda to New APEC Ambassador

Last year, the Bay Area Council was proud to partner with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to host the gathering of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s Women and the Economy Summit. APEC is one of the United States’ most important economic partnerships, and covers 21 economies, including China, Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Vietnam and Australia. Along with top ministers from those countries, the summit included Secretary Clinton; U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood; U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu; U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius; and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. We were proud to host new U.S. Ambassador for APEC Hans Klemm for a get together on June 14 with our members. The discussion delved into issues about global intellectual property, removing global supply chain choke points, facilitating travel and tourism, reducing tariffs on environmental goods and services, and women and the economy. We were especially honored to hear Ambassador Klemm tell us that San Francisco and the Bay Area Council set the global standard for hosting diplomatic gatherings. We thank Ambassador Klemm for the gracious compliments and thank Dean Fealk of Council member DLA Piper for hosting the meeting.