Mayor set for S. Korea
TOOWOOMBA Mayor Paul Antonio will lead a mission to South Korea, a vote confirmed yesterday.
The region’s councillors voted unanimously to send a Toowoomba Regional Council delegation to Toowoomba’s Korean sister city Paju after endorsing the proposal last week.
While on the trip, three councillors, chief executive officer Brian Pidgeon, two council officers and an interpreter will also attend the Asia Pacific Cities Summit in Daejeon.
The summit, initiated by Brisbane City Council in 1996, is a business and government forum for managing cities and urban development.
A report tendered to council stated attending the forum would provide an opportunity to promote the region to a wide range of Asian countries.
The mayor’s primary destination, the city of Paju, lies just 294km from the border with South Korea’s militaristic neighbour North Korea.
The delegation will visit from from September 7-14 this year.
The trip is one of four expected to be attended by Cr Antonio this year.
Another trip to Japan is already confirmed and a trip to Singapore is likely.
The mayor is expected to attend a Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise mission, with the destination to be announced tomorrow night.
Cr Antonio led the AccessChina16 TSBE delegation to Shanghai in China last year.
A formal Sister City Economic Agreement between Toowoomba and Paju was established on October 2, 2002 to enhance the mutual development focused on the economic co-operation between the two cities. A vote on the trip was expedited to allow the council to purchase discounted plane tickets.
It is estimated that the cost for each delegate on the trip will be about $3,100, meaning a total cost to ratepayers of about $21,700.