Chinese Commissioners Tour CALSTART Building

A delegation of Chinese economic commissioners on Monday toured the Burbank offices of a public-private consortium dedicated to developing an advanced transit industry in Southern California.

The Chinese commissioners, on a three-week tour of the United States to learn about American business practices, visited the CALSTART building to learn more about establishing public-private partnerships in China, according to organizers of the tour.

The 24 commissioners are the top economic policy-makers for 24 of China’s 27 provinces and are responsible for overseeing all state-run industries and approving joint-venture projects in their provinces.

The visit was hosted by Pepperdine University and a U. S./China exchange association.

CALSTART, which opened its doors a year ago, is a nonprofit partnership, representing more than 70 businesses, utility companies and public agencies, who have united to use defense industry know-how to build electric cars and other high-tech transit vehicles.

The commissioners’ visit started with a video and slide show and presentation by CALSTART president Mike Gage, former head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Afterward, they posed for photos around a blue prototype electric car that was built by CALSTART and includes component parts built by CALSTART participants.

Jeffrey Cheung, who acted as translator for the group, said the commissioners were intrigued by the work being done in CALSTART and expressed interest in learning more about CALSTART, hoping they can establish similar partnerships in China.