Q: Am I correct that 6th Congressional District candidate Karen Handel was part of a large Georgia delegation led by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue to China to celebrate a new Georgia business development center there and also Delta Air Lines’ inaugural direct flight to China? Can you tell us which other state officials were part of that delegation?
—Leon E. Collins, Stone Mountain
A: As secretary of state at the time, Handel joined a 40-member "delegation of business, academic and government officials from Georgia on a weeklong economic development mission to Shanghai and Beijing" in 2008, according to a press release that Perdue's office issued for the trip. The visit coincided with Delta's inaugural nonstop flight to Shanghai.
During the visit, the group traveled to Beijing, where Perdue opened the Georgia Business Advisory Center. The AJC reported from Beijing that Handel called the center an “integral first step” to encourage commerce between China and the business community in Georgia.
Senior officials from the General Assembly, the Department of Economic Development, the University System of Georgia and the Georgia Ports Authority, along with business leaders from Georgia, also participated in the trip, according to information from the governor’s office. The delegation included Ken Stewart, then-commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Hans Gant, then-executive vice president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the AJC reported in 2008.
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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