By Rachel Lippmann, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Officials with Lambert Airport's governing board have taken the first step toward including St. Louis City in a regional government group trying to make St. Louis a hub for Chinese commerce.
Various city legislative bodies and the Board of Alderman must still approve the city's membership in the Midwest-China Hub Commission, the body that will coordinate efforts to bring Chinese air freight and passenger traffic to Lambert.
"It's a formality that we can all coordinate information, coordinate efforts to supply the Chinese with the business case," said Lambert Airport director Dick Hrabko.
The St. Louis County Council could vote on the county's membership as early as this week, and Hrabko says it won't be difficult to get approval from the Commission's other members. They include the state, the regional and Missouri Chambers of Commerce, and a variety of quasi-governmental economic development agencies.
"I believe that everyone is certainly informally on board now, so I don't anticipate that there will be any issues about getting everyone signed on the dotted line and moving forward, and I think that will happen very shortly," Hrabko said.
Hrabko says the group will set its own budget, and members will split the cost of funding its operations