Mayor George Flaggs Jr. hopes a trip to St. Louis for the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative Annual Organizational Conference will help provide insight and ideas to improve Vicksburg’s economy and expand the Port of Vicksburg.

Formed in 2012, the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative is comprised of 75 mayors, and represents cities and towns on the main stem Mississippi from Minnesota to Louisiana who meet to discuss economic and environmental issues affecting the river and the cities and towns along its banks.

The conference provides mayors the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas for promoting sustainability of the Mississippi River, which is rapidly becoming a crucial asset in attracting and retaining industry by leveraging its market access and global reach.

“This allows us to network with other mayors along the Mississippi River to see how they improve their economy, improve their infrastructure, by way of the Mississippi River,” said Flaggs, who has been involved in the organization since his election in 2013. “There is a whole lot of information. They have U.S. Congressmen and other officials making presentations.

“What this will do is definitely help me work with (chamber executive director) Pablo (Diaz) in the expansion of our port.”

The conferences, he said, help him learn to work with other mayors to collaborate and to get funding for economic development areas like improving the port.

“It continues to help me to get port information so that we can expand our port. I think it’s absolutely necessary that we expand our port, because if we’re going to grow Vicksburg, the fastest way to grow it outside of tourism is (developing) the Mississippi River for transporting goods and services, especially with all the barge lines we have in Vicksburg.

“This allows me to get that information (on developing the Mississippi) firsthand.”