Mayor Tom Henry took to the friendly - which actually appeared quite ominous - skies early today, Asia-bound, for a trip that figures to mix business with pleasure.

Henry, along with his wife, Cindy, and 10 other members of a delegation, will make a stop in Fort Wayne's sister city, Takaoka, Japan, to celebrate the city's 400th birthday. Then the unit will travel to Huaian, China, to possibly foster a relationship with the city of 6 million that could lead to it becoming Fort Wayne's fourth sister city.

Takaoka was Fort Wayne's first sister city, starting in 1976. Fort Wayne is also a sister city to Gera, Germany, and Plock, Poland.

“Our relationship with the three sister cities we have, have been primarily educational and cultural,” said Henry. “My hope, my desire, is to take it to the next level, and that is economic development.”

Henry hopes that can be done through cashing in on what he says are “new, emerging lines of business” that Huaian plans to discuss with the delegation. Among those are branches of information technology and billions of tons of underground salt that Huaian hopes to cultivate and export.

Becoming a sister city with Huaian could potentially lead to trade with the Chinese metropolis, which Henry says is interested in products Fort Wayne has.

“It should be a nice conversation,” said Henry. “This particular meeting is to get to know one another and perhaps take it to the next level.”

Henry and the delegation will return stateside Sept. 19. Four days will be spent in China, Henry said.

Deputy Mayor Greg Purcell will lead the mayor's staff during Henry's absence.