Former governor and U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine hosted a roundtable discussion Monday afternoon with Latino business community leaders in Mount Vernon.

Latino business leaders from across Northern Virginia met with Kaine at the South County Center to discuss issues important to the small business community. “It’s very important for me and for anyone running for office in Virginia to understand issues affecting the Latino business community,” Kaine told business owners.

Kaine told business leaders that his priorities include building local infrastructure, growing the economy, cultivating talent and balancing budgets.

“It’s very important to look at all we have to level the playing field for small businesses,” Kaine said.

Lt. Col. Dominick Pillot of Annandale works for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and serves in the U.S. Army Reserve. He attended Kaine’s roundtable discussion to offer his input on issues that are important to the Latino business community. Obtaining lines of credit and small business disaster relief are two issues he spoke about on Monday.

“It really is important…to tell (Kaine) about the issues,” he said of the meeting.

“It was an interesting mix of people,” Kaine said after the discussion. “When you focus on the Latino community, you find that some of their issues are exactly the same as everyone else.”

The roundtable discussion was Kaine’s 54th discussion in the state and his fifth discussion with Latino business leaders since January.