DES MOINES, Iowa - Vice-President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States has been drawing a lot of attention from the US media and people around the country. The second leg of Xi's trip will be in Iowa - which he visited 27 years ago as a Party official in Hebei province.

Iowans are excited about the visit and think it will benefit the state.

At Des Moines International Airport in the state capital, people were already talking about Xi's visit. An employee of Enterprise Rent-A-Car at the airport said he heard about Xi's visit and thought it would be good for Iowa, particularly the city where he was raised, Muscatine, which has 43,000 residents.

"I know he will be visiting the city Muscatine, where I come from. I just think it's a great thing for our city," he said.

Iowa has a strong relationship with China in agriculture. The state's exports to China have increased thirteen-fold from 2000 to 2010, according to the US-China Business Council.

Representatives of the business community have high hopes for Xi's visit because it will give the Chinese delegation an opportunity to learn more about the state and what it has to offer.

Larry Zimpleman, CEO of the Principal Financial Group, said he looks forward to attending the dinner for Xi at the Iowa Capitol on Wednesday night.

He hopes Xi's visit will bring businesses in Iowa and China closer so that the Chinese delegation can see Iowa's potential beyond agriculture.

"(Iowa) is a very strong state for financial services, with many well-known financial services companies," Zimpleman said.

He said Xi's trip would be the "most significant thing" to happen in Iowa because Xi is the most senior foreign leader to visit the state since former Soviet Union premier Nikita Khrushchev came in 1959.

John Stineman, a business and policy consultant at Strategic Elements LLC in Des Moines, calls Xi's visit "a critical step" that will create opportunities for Chinese and Iowan companies.

"Iowa is very interested and excited about the opportunities to not just compete within China, to gain market share there, but to participate as China begins participating more directly within the US market," Stineman said.

Mike St. Clair, principal at Capital Edge, said with China's rapidly growing economy, it is important to build a strong relationship.

"Everybody understands that we're in a global economy and any economic relationship we can forge with other countries will ultimately be beneficial to Iowa," St. Clair said.

Iowa also has strong educational ties with China. The state's major universities have seen enrollment of Chinese students increase substantially over the past five years, according to officials at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.

Mark Olmstead, assistant principal of Muscatine High School, said he heard the news about the visit from a friend working in Des Moines.

"We were excited," he told China Daily. "We will put our best foot forward." Olmstead really wanted to invite Xi to come to his school, which offers Chinese language classes.

"To have a dignitary of that magnitude come to visit our community, I think it is just a wonderful, fantastic opportunity (to invite Xi to the school)," he said.

Swallow Xiaozhe Yan, executive director of Chinese Association of Iowa, expects that Xi's visit will jumpstart a series of investment projects between China and the Midwest.

"A lot of Chinese people will get to know more about Iowa and the US Midwest through Xi's trip," Yan said. "Then a huge wave of business opportunities will come."

Iowa has about 10,000 Chinese residents, most of them working in agricultural and insurance industries. About 10 representatives of the Chinese community are invited to the dinner reception at the state capital on Wednesday evening.