Asia trip essential for trade

Mayor hails 10-day, $25k delegation as strong for region

MAYOR Paul Antonio has declared a $25,000 trip to South Korea and China a huge success, saying it was essential to keep building relationships and potential trade partnerships.

The final report on the delegation in September passed through the Toowoomba Regional Council’s committee meetings yesterday.

The documents included a rough costing breakdown of the 10-day trip that featured Cr Antonio and CEO Brian Pidgeon as well as planning and development general manager Stewart Somers for part of it.

The bill included more than $6000 for gifts and miscellaneous expenses, $3500 for accommodation and meals and $16,200 for airfares.

In the committee meeting, Cr Antonio said the visit to China’s Shaoxing district was a positive step in developing trade relationships.

“The visit to China was particularly useful,” he said.

“It was very short, but the reality is when we had the dinner on the night we were there, the Consulate General from Shanghai was present.

“Everyone could agree that the China part of the trip was very positive.

“There’s now a movement to broadening that relationship and that reflects a sensible thing to do.”

The delegation also visited Toowoomba’s sister city Paju in South Korea, where Mr Somers said they were “made to feel like VIPs”.

The mayor also attended the Asia-Pacific Cities Summit in Daejeon.

Delegates from China visited the region last week.