Talk about jet lag and no time to see the sights.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti leads a delegation to New Zealand Friday to take part in a two-day summit to talk trade and tourism with the mayors, trade officials and business people of two other port cities.
He’s supposed to be back at his City Desk desk Tuesday.
The mayor’s office didn’t disclose if he’ll be crushed in an economy seat or be more comfortable in a lie-flat bed in business or first class for the 12-hour trip each way.
The Tripartite Summit is being hosted by Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, as part of an economic agreement with Los Angeles and Guangzhou, China.
Garcetti signed the pact with the two cities during his 2014 trade mission to Asia. The Auckland summit is the second gathering. The first event hosted in Los Angeles last year was attended by Guangzhou Mayor Chen Jianhua and Auckland Mayor Len Brown.
While at the Auckland summit, Garcetti will talk about Los Angeles-based architecture and engineering firms Gensler and AECOM. The firms have contracts to design and manage the $125 million renovation of the Auckland Airport, according to mayoral aides.
Garcetti also is scheduled to tour New Zealand children’s products company Seedling, which has a location in Los Angeles.
Garcetti is planning to promote tourism by highlighting the start of daily flights between Los Angeles International Airport and Auckland in June.
In addition, Garcetti will attend the signing of an agreement to set up an “urban design alliance” — focused on sustainability — of the Los Angeles Business, the Auckland Council and the Guangzhou Urban Planning and Design Survey Research Institute.
—City News Service