Tony Blair Coming to San Francisco this week according to SF Examiner.

by No Warmongers Here

Tue, Jul 25, 2006 8:02PM

Tony coming?

Article says:

"The British Prime Minister is expected to visit San Francisco this week. Details of his trip are "very tight" and "things are still being arranged" said Lorraine Turner spokeswoman for the British Consulate in San Francisco. Turner said, "hopefully he will" visit the City but would not officially confirm the trip. Blair's itinerary could come out as early as Thursday, she said.

Page 5, Tuesday, July 25, 2006

§From the Kuwait Times and 10 Downing St website

by More confirmation

Tue, Jul 25, 2006 8:27PM

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/Navariednews.asp?dismode=article&artid=509701724
Britain's position remains closely aligned with the United States, which has also rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire. Blair will fly to Washington on Friday for talks with US President George W. Bush, his spokesman confirmed yesterday, with Israel's offensive in Lebanon high on the agenda. After his talks with Bush, Blair will travel to the country's west coast. "He will meet on Friday President Bush and visit San Francisco and LA (Los Angeles)," the prime minister's official spokesman told reporters, without providing details on the reason for the California stop.
The trip will be Blair's second to the White House in less than two months. On Friday, the White House said the two allies would use the meeting to discuss the Middle East crisis and other world troublespots, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Sudan's western Darfur region. - Information from agencies was used in this report.

http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page9917.asp
The PMOS told journalists that this was, remarkably, the first ever visit to California by a serving British Prime Minister. The reason why was that it was the 6th or 7th largest economy in the world, but it was also an economy which was similar to ours in that it was a new economy which was increasingly based on heavy knowledge-based industries. These were based on innovation, commitment to education, developing biotechnologies, including stem cell research, and high tech industries. It was also very committed to taking on modern challenges such as climate change where the Governor had taken on a particularly high profile role. In terms of the linkages, there were 500 UK companies operating in California, creating 120,000 jobs there. With regards to the trade balance, we exported $5.2 billion worth of products to California and we imported $15 billion worth of products from California. The PMOS then gave details of the events the Prime Minister would be attending on climate change, biotechnology, and also, the speeches that he would be giving to News International on "Leadership in the Modern World" and to the World Forum on the Middle East and other current international issues.

Asked if the Prime Minister would meet Governor Schwarzenegger, the PMOS said that they would meet at the climate change grand forum.

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