The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Nick Anstee,heads to the USA this week to strengthen business and economiclinks across the Atlantic.

His team arrives in Miami today (Thursday, 21 January 2010),before travelling to Tampa, Charlotte, Houston and Dallas. The LordMayor will meet political and business leaders to forge closerlinks on issues including: carbon finance, Sharia-compliantfinance, and Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).

The Lord Mayor, who is global ambassador for all UK-basedfinancial services, said:"This economic crisis has highlighted the fact that in financialservices the US and UK are more closely intertwined than everbefore. Growing the trans-Atlantic exchange of talent, funding andideas will play a crucial role in making sure both our countriesachieve a sustained recovery.

"We have identified key areas where closer cooperation will payoff and they include carbon trading and Sharia-compliant finance.

Both offer unique opportunities that have significant potential forfuture growth. The UK's capabilities in these fields are worldclass and we want to work with our counterparts in the US,particularly in the energy industry, to develop business to ourmutual benefit."In Miami (21 " 22 January), the Lord Mayor will make a keynotespeech at the 'Carbon Markets North America Conference 2010'.

In Tampa (24 " 25 January), will take part in a discussion onthe UK's response to the financial crisis and recent European Unionregulatory developments.

In Charlotte (25 " 26 January), the Lord Mayor plans to meetwith his counterpart Anthony Foxx, Mayor of Charlotte andparticipate in a banking industry roundtable event.

As well as touring the BP Rodeo Helios Plaza facility in Houston(26-29 January), the Lord Mayor will participate in a series ofevents designed to highlight how Sharia-compliant finance canprovide an alternative capital raising stream for the US oil andgas industries.In Dallas (29-30 January), the Lord Mayor is scheduled to meetRichard Fisher, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas,and engage with key industry players in the energy sector.

The Lord Mayor's car travel while in the USA has been offsetthrough a clean energy project Kurkumbh Bagasse in Pune, India.