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Related documents: Position paper on Sister State and
Sister City Relations Between Australia and China Chamber letter to Sister City News Information about cities
and provinces in China. |
MAKING SISTER CITY RELATIONS WORK FOR THE ECONOMIC 12 March 2002 Sponsoring organisations: Local Government and
Shires Associations NSW (LGSA) Australian Sister
Cities Association (ASCA) Australia China
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New South Wales (ACCCI) |
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Thank you for your invitation to
speak this morning in relation to the Sister City relationship the city of
Wagga Wagga, NSW has with the city of Kunming situated in the South West of
China. Wagga Wagga City Council
currently has three Sister Cities.
Leavenworth, USA, which was developed in 1962, Nordlingen, Germany and
Kunming in China developed in 1988.
It is very fair of me to say that the Kunming, China Sister City is by
far the most progressive. The
Leavenworth, USA relationship is really only used for visits by our Miss
Wagga Wagga and Community Princess every two years, whilst the Nordlingen,
Germany relationship does entertain several visits by Council and community
groups, whereas our Miss Wagga Wagga and Community Princess are hosted in
Nordligen every alternate year to Leavenworth. The Kunming, China relationship
has developed considerably over the past 2 years. We have had some 15 visits from Chinese groups, 10 of these
have been from either Kunming or Yunnan Province. These Chinese delegations have covered a wide coverage over the
Agriculture, Public Health, Tourism, Education, University and general
goodwill areas. The Sister City talks first
began in 1984, when a local Horticulturist began talks with the Chinese
Embassy and eventually arranged for a visit to Kunming. It had been established that Kunming with
a population of some 4.5 million people and situated in the Yunnan Province,
which has a population of some 42 million people, had many opportunities for
our two cities to share our expertise in the agricultural and cultural areas. In 1988 the agreement was signed and to
commemorate this a Camellia Garden was constructed by the Kunming Government
in our Botanic gardens. Our Council
then had a Children’s playground installed by Council employees in Kunming. Since 1988 there have been
consistent visits by members of our Council and in particular the Mayors
together with several ‘trade delegations’ to Kunming. I took over as Mayor in September 1999 and
first took the opportunity to visit Kunming in April 2000 at the time of the
inaugural International Tourism Festival.
I must say that my eyes were widely opened when I saw first hand what
was available in Kunming. The opening
of the festival was something to remember, they really put on a wonderful
display, which to my mind was even better than the opening of the Sydney
Olympic Games. There has been considerable talk
in Government circles that the Chinese have destroyed their history and
heritage. This is not so in Kunming,
here we have a city that is rich in history and heritage and they are doing
something about restoring those important things of the past. The Exposition area in Kunming is really
something to see. It is situated on
some 200 plus hectares, supplied by the Government and has exhibition halls
from most countries in the world. The
only Australian exhibit is a small slab hut, with a hills hoist and a
Southern Cross windmill and some artwork of native birds from this
country. This hut was built by
personnel from our Council to ensure that an Australian commitment was
available at the Expo Area. The
inside of the hut has information on Wagga Wagga and Australia and has a sign
“Wagga Wagga – Australia. I must say
that this exhibit falls into some insignificance in relation to other country
exhibits. In fact on my last visit to
Kunming in December 2001, I found that some disrepair had occurred and we are
now endeavouring to have this rectified. This Expo area has some 9
million visitors each year and is no doubt a great fundraiser for the Kunming
Government. The area also has a
wonderful entertainment area with a stage, which can have up to 500
entertainers performing at one time.
At the rear of the stage there is a lake area with a man made cliff
face with light fittings at the rear of the lake. The entertainment is really special and made more spectacular
by the water features and lights from the cliff face. Something really worth looking at. Other features include a
Nationalities Village, where is on land developed by the government and made
available for use by the 26 different nationalities in the Yunnan
Province. Currently there are 13 of
the nationalities who have exhibits and demonstrations on the site. This is really a great place to visit and
I am told that they have up to 50,000 visitors on a daily basis during the
busy tourism period. Nearby is the
Stone Forest, which is really an old historic ocean bed. The history and heritage, which surrounds
this tourist attraction, is something special as well. Well some things that have been
positive in this Sister City relationship have been Sister School
relationships between two of our High Schools and High Schools in
Kunming. A Sister University
relationship between Charles Sturt university and Yunnan University and as
well we have now opened the Tourism doors between the Travel Agencies in
Kunming with the Travel Agencies in Wagga Wagga. In December 2001, a local
businessman from Wagga Wagga, who owned two Chinese restaurants in Wagga
Wagga has now set up an “Aussie Café” in Kunming. His restaurant is likened to a McDonald’s and is doing quite
well in Kunming. We are looking
forward to more interactions in this area of business development. In December 2001, we had a
delegation from Kunming from representatives of the Kunming Community
Consultative Conferencing Committee in relation to Public and Environmental
Health issues. When I was first in
Kunming in 2000, I made a promise to the Mayor that I would send over some
water and waste management experts to maybe assist his city in relation to
water and waste management issues.
The December 2001 delegation have taken back some of the best practice
measures we are using in Wagga Wagga, which are causing great interest in the
government. I am taking a 9-person
delegation including two persons with water and waste management expertise to
Kunming on 12 April 2002. This will
be my third visit in 20 months and I am again looking forward to the
visit. Really we are treated like
royalty, which is not expected. When
it comes down to fact, we at Wagga Wagga cannot host these people in the same
fashion as we are hosted in Kunming. I am extremely pleased with the
progress of our Sister City relationship with Kunming and look forward to
further developments into the future.
I have commenced a section of our Regional Library to include books
and demonstrations to identify the values and beauty of Kunming and I am
confident that we will have community and trade delegations take up the
challenge to visit our Sister City in Kunming, China over the next months. Kunming is known as the city of “eternal
spring” and this was evident when I was there last December in winter time,
cool mornings and nights with 23 degrees during the day. Ladies and Gentlemen. Sister Cities are what you make them. Get in and make it happen and you will
really achieve some exciting opportunities for your communities. Perhaps the financial rewards are harder
to achieve, but in Wagga Wagga we are excited about a Farm stay just out of
our area, which is now attracting large numbers of Chinese students, who come
for 4-6 weeks, learn some English and try out the Australian farm
lifestyle. This arrangement has 250
students booked for 2002. Why did it
happen, some came and tried it out and the word of mouth advertising did the
rest. A perfect example of just what
can be done, if you make it happen. Thank you and best of luck with
your personal Chinese Sister City relations. |
