The Mayor of Montréal on a mission to California

MONTRÉAL, Sept. 25, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mayor of Montréal, Denis Coderre, will carry out a mission in Los Angeles, California, from September 27 to October 1, 2014.  He will be accompanied by Harout Chitilian, Vice Chairman of the Montréal Executive Committee, responsible for the Smart City and information technologies. This mission reflects the Coderre administration's desire to position the city as a leader recognized worldwide in the digital field as a Smart City.

"California, and especially its famed Silicon Valley, is a hub and home to major players involved in the new media industry. We will be meeting with business leaders, including those who are already established in Montréal, to consolidate the city's position in the field of information technologies. Also, we wish to make new contacts in the film world to explore ways in which our metropolis can remain a competitive location for the cinema industry to thrive," said Mayor Coderre. 

At the invitation of Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City, Mayor Coderre will attend the second CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Challenges Summit, which is held this year in Los Angeles. This important exchange forum on urban challenges brings together mayors of large international cities, top-level managers, architects, urban planners, as well as experts involved in the field of municipal and metropolitan governance. The first Summit, which was held in New York in 2013, brought together 30 mayors and delegates from 95 cities and 23 countries.

"The Urban CityLab Summit is a unique opportunity for delegates to create ties and share ideas with mayors of other large cities of the world on innovative solutions, emerging trends and best practices involving urban challenges, including Smart City initiatives. Today, large international cities of the world must build relationships to discuss specific challenges. I also plan to meet with the Mayor of Seoul, Park Won Soon, who will host the Seoul International Conference on Social Sciences and Management in 2014, an event that could be held in Montréal in 2016," said Mayor Coderre.

Mayor Coderre will take this opportunity to meet with other representatives of municipalities taking part in CityLab, as well as with various business leaders. He will also visit Silicon Valley where several economic development meetings will be held.

Mayor Coderre will meet with Los Angeles Dodgers President and CEO, Stan Kasten, and Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Lon Rosen, to promote Montréal as a host city for a professional baseball team. "Montrealers demonstrated their attachment for baseball last spring, when more than 100,000 fans gathered at the Olympic Stadium to attend the exhibition games between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets. I fully support efforts to bring back a professional baseball team to Montréal and plan to take advantage of my visit to Los Angeles to raise awareness among the Dodgers organization of Montréal's wish to play ball professionally again," said Mayor Coderre.

SOURCE: Ville de Montréal - Cabinet du maire et du comité exécutif

Source : Louis-Pascal Cyr, Office of the Mayor and Executive Committee, Ville de Montréal, 514 207-5525; Information: François Goneau, Service des communications, Ville de Montréal, 514 868-5859