Even though Long Beach has long been home to the world’s largest concentration of Cambodians outside of Cambodia, Mayor Robert Garcia only recently became the city’s first sitting mayor to visit the country.

Garcia is visiting Phnom Penh and Vietnam over nine days as part of a trade delegation from the Port of Long Beach to Southeast Asia. The group is meeting with Port customers, organizations and trade officials in hopes of attracting and retaining more business.

“Long Beach and Cambodia are united by our culture and our people,” Garcia said. “We must work to strengthen that bond by increasing trade and tourism, and creating jobs for Long Beach.”

Garcia will also renew the sister city relationship between Long Beach and Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh that was established in 1993. The relationship means that both sides agree to promote international goodwill, exchange ideas and improve trade relations between the two cities and their respective countries, according to the Port.

“The continued economic growth of Cambodia and Vietnam creates a strong potential for increasing trade through the Port of Long Beach,” said Long Beach Harbor Commission President Tracy Egoscue. “We are looking forward to building new alliances and strengthening existing relationships with our partners in Southeast Asia.”

An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the mayor visited Singapore. He joined the mission in Cambodia and will return after conducting meetings in Vietnam.