The Toronto Region Board of Trade and China's Greenland Group signed a partnership agreement that will boost the city's food and beverage industry according to city Mayor John Tory.

Tory said that the recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) will open new jobs in Toronto as Greenland Group, a Shanghai-based conglomerate owned by the Chinese government, is set to create a purchasing center to source domestic food products and sell them in the company's premium grocery outlets in China.

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"That business is going to be located in Toronto," Tory said, noting  Greenland's ongoing King Blue project in Toronto.

The project will feature two high-rise condominiums, a luxury boutique hotel, and a new 10,000-squarefoot home for Theatre Museum Canada.

"Greenland Group targets the world's megacities with large tourism and business growth potential," Henry Cao, Greenland Group Canada's president, wrote in an email. Cao added that he believes Canada is the place to be for investment, pointing that all its major cities are attractive.

Tory and a group of councilors and businessmen arrived in China on Thursday after their three-day trip in California's Silicon Valley attempting to tap potential businesses for Toronto. The group will leave Shanghai on Saturday and will head towards Chongqing and Hong Kong before ending their trade mission on April 16 in Japan.

"We're just going company by company by company," the mayor said.

"They're all looking to globalize so they can expand beyond the Chinese market and forge partnerships," the mayor said.

TagsToronto Region Board of Trade, Greenland Group, china, Canada, King Blue project, Mayor John Tory, Fosun, Silicon Valley