Boroughs, university, private companies to explore trade with China

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker peeks out for a photo after a group signs an agreement to study a partnership between China and Alaska to build a gas pipeline megaproject on Nov. 9, 2017, in Beijing, China. (Photo courtesy Alaska Governor’s Office)

An Alaska delegation will explore new trade opportunities in China at the end of May. The group includes a baby food maker, several seafood processors and the Mat-Su Borough.

The trip is part of a trade mission that Gov. Bill Walker’s office announced earlier this year. China is the top consumer of Alaska’s goods and Walker says he wants to deepen those ties.

On Tuesday, Walker’s office announced 26 groups that would travel with the state during the 11-day trip. They’ll have opportunities to meet with potential customers and government officials on the trip.

They’ll also be traveling with Alaska’s Gasline Development Corporation. The state corporation is working to develop a $45 billion natural gas export project; it wants China to finance the bulk of it.

Rashah McChesney is a photojournalist turned radio journalist who has been telling stories in Alaska since 2012. Before joining Alaska's Energy Desk , she worked at Kenai's Peninsula Clarion and the Juneau bureau of the Associated Press. She is a graduate of Iowa State University's Greenlee Journalism School and has worked in public television, newspapers and now radio, all in the quest to become the Swiss Army knife of storytellers.

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