Visits present opportunity

Strengthening educational and economic ties will be on the cards as Timaru prepares to host delegations from two of its four sister cities.

A delegation from Weihai in China will be arriving in Timaru in late November, and a party from Eniwa would be arriving in February 2018, marking a 10-year tie between the two centres.

Aoraki Development chairman Nigel Davenport said schedules for both of the visits were still being finalised.

The Weihai delegation would involve municipal and business leaders and will be led by the deputy mayor, and the Eniwa delegation would be led by the city’s mayor, and would involve the city’s chamber of commerce, and the Eniwa-New Zealand Association.

Students were also expected to travel with the Eniwa delegation, Davenport said. The Eniwa delegation was likely to visit Timaru for about three weeks, while the Weihai one was only expected to stay in Timaru for a couple of days.

It was too early to say what the delegations would be doing - but the visits were an opportunity to strengthen economic and educational ties with the South Canterbury community.

‘‘The interesting thing is that Fonterra have recently established a relationship with the island of Hokkaido [where Eniwa is located],’’ Davenport said.

‘‘It gives them the opportunity to expand on that.’’ There were already student exchanges between Timaru and both Weihai and Eniwa, and the sister city relationships could be a ‘‘platform’’ to take on fee-paying students.

‘‘This is a fantastic region for international students to experi- ence the best natural NZ has to offer while receiving a high quality education in a safe and friendly environment,’’ Davenport said.

An international student manager had recently been appointed at Ara Institute of Canterbury’s Timaru campus, but there were no fee-paying students that Davenport was aware of in the South Canterbury region so far.

Eniwa, which had a population of nearly 70,000 people, had been paired with Timaru since 1998. Weihai - a city of more than two million people, in the eastern Shandong province of China - had been paired with Timaru since 1999.

Aoraki Development was keen to explore and evolve the relationships, Davenport said. Eniwa was ‘‘very similar’’ to South Canterbury with its rural economy.

‘‘They are a rural servicing centre, and they have a wide range of food processors and other manufacturers as well,’’ Davenport said.

Both Timaru and Eniwa had breweries, and there were other similarities ‘‘across a number of levels’’.

Timaru District Council community development committee chairman Steve Wills said Timaru’s sister city relationships were ‘‘a real strength’’ and gave South Canterbury people the opportunity to explore different cultures and opportunities.

‘‘It’s good to see those relationships are going to be strengthened.’’ A report presented to the community development committee on Tuesday said applications were also being sought for an annual student exchange to Eniwa in 2018. Applications close on November 10.

Wills said for ‘‘a number of years’’ the relationship with Eniwa was ‘‘dormant’’ but in the last two or three years it had been re-invigorated.