City Council members plan trip to Africa

Mayor Carl Brewer and City Council member Lavonta Williams are planning a trip to Africa later this month to explore trade, education, aviation and government exchange opportunities.

The trip, which they are paying for personally and not with city funds, will be from Sept. 25 to Oct. 13. They are part of a group of about 15 people that will travel to Ghana in West Africa and to South Africa.

“Many cities throughout the United States are traveling overseas to look at new export opportunities and so we’re doing the exact same thing,” Brewer said.

Brewer’s particular interest on the trip is building business relationships overseas that could lead to opportunities for small and midsize aviation businesses in Wichita.

“Unfortunately, when most other countries look at the United States, they think of Chicago, New York and California. They don’t know anything about the state of Kansas and they certainly don’t know about Wichita, so this provides us that opportunity,” Brewer said.

The group will include representatives from Wichita State, Friends University, the Kansas African American Museum and Kansas Global Trade Services, Brewer said. In Ghana, they will visit Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast and in South Africa, they will visit Johannesburg, Cape Town and Ekurhuleni, according to city documents.

In order to represent the city, the trip required approval from the council, which it received unanimously.

This story was originally published September 16, 2014 at 1:40 PM with the headline "City Council members plan trip to Africa."