International Focus Magazine Vol. 1, #2 | страница 44

people

The City’s Red Carpet Man

(COH) Mayor’s Office of Trade and International Affairs
By SONIA GUIMBELLOT

Who would have known that Houston has an office that has accommodations for a king or queen — most
importantly for relationships to be
made between other countries and
the businesses within them? The
City of Houston Mayor’s Office of
International Affairs (MOTIA) Business Development Manager, Mohit
Bangia sat down with us in the City
Hall’s Diplomacy room for a candid
talk on how the office has changed
with the new administration and
how he became an integral part of it.
Mohit (Mo as he is commonly called
by colleagues and friends) begins by
telling the story of his family migrating to Houston from New Dehli, India in 2000 so his brother could attend UT-Austin (University of Texas
in Austin) and he could go to UH
(University of Houston). He states
that his parents even gave up some
good jobs so that the brothers could
have a better life here. You can see
why he is in this role as you automatically feel a comfortable ease to
his personality and communication
skills as an openly helpful person
ready for anything coming his way.
He tells us he started interning at the
Mayor’s office his junior year of college because he thought it would be
“a cool thing to do” yet did not realize how amazing it would also be to
work here working with people and
building relationships. Stories he has
in tow of trade missions to all corners of the globe with former Mayor
Parker and staff her on India, Norway,
44 iF Magazine | August 2016

and China trips. Talking points are
prepared in advance of these trips to
be efficient in the time allotted in the
duration of the mission’s productivity.
Mohit was the main coordinator for

Houston boasts itself as the most diverse
city in the country and it’s because of
the countless people that have stories
like mine. I’m a firm believer in thinking
outside the box and having a diverse group
of people in town definitely helps that
narrative move forward
all seven Mayor’s Trade and Development Councils, a group of 150+
business leaders in the international
community that advised the mayor
on the needs of the international
community. Various other projects
have held his attention such as the
World Energy Cities Partnership
which is a collection of energy cities

around the globe that exchange best
practices on how to run a city that
just launched a new website a couple
weeks ago! You may find it at www.
energycities.org.
Promoting trade and cultural exchanges between cities through Sister
Cities, World Energy Cities Partnership, bilateral agreements, trade missions, etc. is at the core. Economic
development and tax abatement assistance for small to medium-sized
businesses by identifying key players
in shaping the right message of attention to the business community,
by providing the right resources so
that small firms think of ‘Houston
First’. The MOTIA office has been
relied on from anything to the sort
of flag rentals (ones of all the nations
represented in the Houston Consular
Corps as well as most countries represented in the Summer Olympic
Games) of which we rent the flags for
our G7 (Global 7 Award show) each