Seattle mayor Ed Murray, a descendant of Irish immigrants, left last week for a visit to Ireland for his first official trip overseas.
Murray’s grandparents left Ireland in the early 20th century, and the mayor himself lived in Belfast in 1974.
Murray is the first LGBT mayor elected in Seattle.
According to The Seattle Times, his official itinerary began Friday in Galway, a sister city to Seattle since 1986, where he met Galway Mayor Donal Lyons at the annual oyster festival.
Other highlights of his schedule, according to an official press release, include a meeting at Galway University, where he will lead a roundtable discussion on legislating for employment and marriage equality for the LGBT community of Ireland.
Read more: New Seattle mayor Ed Murray, Irish and gay and proud of it
On Monday, he will travel to Dublin to meet with the American Chamber of Commerce and speak on the well-established business connections between his city and Ireland.
Murray will also meet with with finalists of EY, Ireland’s Entrepreneur of the Year program who visited Seattle in May 2014.
He will also travel to Leinster House to meet with Ireland’s government and legislative leaders to discuss a national referendum on marriage equality in the works for spring 2015.
On Tuesday, the final day of the trip, Mayor Murray will meet with Irish President Michael D. Higgins.
“Seattle enjoys strong economic and cultural ties with Ireland that benefit both of our communities,” said Murray, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
“Whether it’s Boeing selling hundreds of aircraft to Ryanair or Seattle’s boutique hotels hosting cruise passengers from Dublin, we want to foster those meaningful, productive relationships.”
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