HOUSTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A pre-mission briefing was held on Thursday for Houston business delegation who will participate in the China International Import Expo (CIIE) 2019 early November.

Organized by Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), the delegation consists of more than 20 business leaders in Greater Houston area from finance, logistics, education, big data management, innovation as well as medical and legal service.

The trade mission garnered support from Chinese Consulate General in Houston, the Asian Chamber of Commerce and the Houston Shenzhen Sister Cities Association.

Jensen Shen, director for Asia, Australia and Oceania at GHP, said Houston has enjoyed a close business relationship with China.

"China ranks as Houston's second largest trading partner with an estimated value of over 20 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. Chinese investment in Texas, and in Houston in particular, has grown significantly over the last several years," Shen said.

This will be the second time that GHP leads a trade delegation to attend CIIE. With more business leaders participating, the Houston delegation will set up booths in CIIE and hold three seminars to promote the Greater Houston area. After CIIE, the mission group will have an extended visit to Shenzhen, Houston's sister city.

"One of the purposes for this mission is to build more trade net (with China)," Shen said.

Chinese Business Consul in Houston Zhou Zhencheng said the first CIIE last year has achieved great significance and drawn attention from around the global. The upcoming second CIIE will be on an even larger scale.

Since most of the Houston delegates are from the service sector, Zhou said service trade between China and the United States has great potentials. "Service trade should play a unique role in China-U.S. economic and trade relations and inject new vitality into it," he added.