SAN DIEGO, CA – San Diego Monday became the first U.S. West Coast city to join London's Business Welcome Program as area business and civic leaders began a four-day trade mission in England.

The mission is being led by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego.

The agreement between the EDC's World Trade Center San Diego and London & Partners calls for London-based companies looking to open shop in San Diego and vice versa to have access to co-working spaces, legal consulting and access to a venture capital network.

"At a time of shifting political ideologies and global uncertainty, trade partnerships help bring down borders," said Nikia Clarke, executive director of World Trade Center San Diego. "San Diego and London have taken their success into their own hands and partnered on the city-to-city Business Welcome Program to ensure continued economic progress."

Some of the others on the trip include representatives of local companies like Cubic Transportation Systems, Qualcomm and NuVasive; the life sciences trade organization Biocom; UC San Diego and San Diego State University; and BioMed Realty, a real estate firm for life sciences businesses. BioMed is scheduled to announce a 100,000-square-foot laboratory project in Cambridge.

According to the EDC, companies based in the United Kingdom directly support more than 10,000 jobs in San Diego and poured more than $3.9 billion in investments into the region's economy between 2003 and 2015. The U.K. is one of the top 10 largest export markets for San Diego-produced goods and services, according to the EDC.