Los Angeles Consular Corps

The Los Angeles Consular Corps is an informal organization representative of the over 100 consulates located in Los Angeles, California. There is also a List of Los Angeles consulates.

Los Angeles has the third largest consular community in the world, after New York City and Hong Kong. However, Hong Kong's consulates are treated as embassies due to the unique semi-autonomous political status of Hong Kong S.A.R. (for example, the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong reports directly to Washington, and not to Beijing), and New York City is home to the United Nations, which means that every country has a formal presence in New York. Therefore, Los Angeles is particularly unique because it is neither a national capital (or even a state capital), nor headquarters for a major international organization such as the UN, nor a financial center (such as Sydney, Shanghai, and Frankfurt) and still has attracted over one hundred foreign consulates. It is clear that among "normal" cities, Los Angeles has the largest consular community in the world.

Generally, the consulates in Los Angeles have jurisdiction over the regions of Southern California, while some serve the entire state of California, and other parts of the Western United States.

Los Angeles as a globally strategic location

Los Angeles offers an important and strategic location: being inside the United States, in the major state of California, and at the crossroads of both Asia and Latin America. Its location on the Pacific Rim makes it an obvious choice for most countries to locate its consulate. Also, Los Angeles boasts one of the busiest major airports in the world: LAX, also the Port of Los Angeles is the largest maritime port in the United States, and North America, and is the 4th largest in the world. Los Angeles is the largest city in California, and the second largest in the U.S., and is the world's capital for entertainment. Many factors make Los Angeles an important place on the global stage. The Los Angeles customs district is the largest in the U.S. in terms of international trade capital and volume. [http://web.mac.com/jonathanbeutler/]

In demographic terms, Los Angeles is arguably the most ethnically diverse region in the world. With nearly 300 languages spoken, and the largest communities of Koreans, Armenians, Persians, Filipinos, Taiwanese, Guatemalans, Mexicans, and Canadians outside their respective countries of origin, L.A. is a cosmopolitan and international melting pot.

Location of Consulates

The majority of the said consulates in Los Angeles are located in the Wilshire area, West L.A., and Beverly Hills.

Government Relationships

The government offices responsible for dealing with the foreign consulates in Los Angeles are:
*the Los Angeles County Office of Protocol
*the City of Los Angeles Office of Protocol, in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office.
*International Trade Office, Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles
*the International Protocol Office of Governor Schwarzenegger
*The U.S. Department of State office in Los Angeles (11000 Wilshire Blvd.)
*Orange County Office of Protocol

Consular Corps Ball

Each year the Corps sponsors a Ball held in Los Angeles dedicated to the promotion of the community, and a networking event for international visitors and foreign diplomats.

The 79th Ball was held in November 2007 at the Intercontinental Hotel in west Los Angeles, and was sponsored by Delta Airlines, Sunrider International, and the Los Angeles County Office of Protocol.

Members of the Los Angeles Consular Corps include consulates from the following countries:

*Brazil
*Canada
*China
*Mexico
*Spain

Additionally, the Los Angeles Consular Corps includes foreign trade missions, foreign commercial offices:
*The Catalonian Trade Office of Los Angeles
*The Brazilian Chamber of Commerce of California
*The Trade Council of Spain
*The Danish Business Council

References

Category:Los Angeles, California