A trade delegation led by St. Louis County officials and former Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond touched down in the Indonesian capital Jakarta over the weekend.

The group, which includes six local companies - ranging from Boeing Co. to Innoventor - and four universities, will visit four cities in their weeklong trip. They plan to meet with business and educational leaders to work on trade ties and university relationships.

Indonesia and its neighbors can be a big market for St. Louis-area companies that want to grow exports, said Tim Nowak, executive director of the World Trade Center St. Louis, which organized the trip along with Kit Bond Strategies. Visits like these are designed to deepen those relationships, and lay the groundwork for increased emphasis on the region at the World Trade Center.

"Southeast Asia is growing incredibly fast, and we see it as being one of the next big U.S. trade partners," Nowak said. "We think, in many ways, it is going to be as big as the Chinese market. That is why companies are so eager to begin building relationships in this part of the world."