A Northside business leader left Monday on Gov. Sonny Perdue's trade mission to China.

Yvonne Williams, executive director the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts, said she has two primary goals while in Beijing — to foster relations with a major trading partner of corporations near Perimeter Mall, and to see how Beijing has accommodated growth.

"Some of the corporations in the PCIDs have major intercontinental relations on trade and services with companies in China, and it's good for us to have this opportunity to promote our relations," Williams said before she left.

The Northside companies that do business in China include UPS, the shipping and logistics company, and Pilgrims Pride Corp., a poultry company with a market value today of $1.35 billion, headquartered in Pittsburg, Texas.

Williams also wants to see how Beijing is managing its growth and transportation. Beijing's population exceeded 12.5 million in 2001 and its future development plans envision expansion into its suburbs, according to the city's Web site.

"They understand that population growth is the future for them," Williams said. "They have embraced density and learned how to accept it. As metro Atlanta aspires to be a major international city, we have to learn how to do the same things."

Williams did not join Perdue Sunday on Delta's inaugural flight direct from Atlanta to Shanghai, China. She'll fly through Newark and return home Saturday, after taking a personal day to see the Great Wall of China.

She'd stay longer if the state Legislature weren't in session.

"I have to get back to see if they're going to pass the measures the PCIDs support to relieve traffic congestion in metro Atlanta," Williams said.

Georgia's exports to China totaled $1.6 billion in 2007, according to a statement released by Perdue's office. The Savannah port imported goods valued at $13 billion from China, including Hong Kong, the statement says. Perdue plans to open a Georgia's Business Advisory Center in Beijing while he's there.

For more information: www.ebeijing.gov.cn