Foreign relations of the Mayor of London
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The foreign relations of the Mayor of London are carried out as part of his responsibility to promote global links on behalf of the British capital. In addition to work done as part of the 2012 London Olympics, the Greater London Authority (GLA) estimates that 700,000 jobs in London depend on foreign companies and the tourist industry.[1]
In 2007 the London Assembly questioned former London mayor Ken Livingstone over aspects of his international relations strategy, including the cost of foreign visits.[2]
The GLA currently maintains several overseas offices, in Brussels (in conjunction with London Councils), Beijing/Shanghai and Delhi/Mumbai. The Labour mayor Ken Livingstone had also floated the possibility of opening an office in Caracas, Venezuela as part of his engagement with the Bolivarian Republic of Hugo Chavez. Other aspects of Livingstone’s international strategy included his defence of the Cuban government and proposals to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution [3] Livingstone's Conservative successor Boris Johnson is not expected to continue his predecessor's association with left-wing Latin American governments and has pledged to review the overseas offices' existence as part of his reduction of the GLA's bureaucracy and spending.
The Mayor of London signed city partnerships with the following cities:
