ICC looks to reactivate sister city relationship with Suqian
The Invercargill City Council will look at ways to reactivate its sister city relationship with Suqian in China, after a councillor said there should be accountability for whether economic benefits had been delivered to date.
Cr Ian Pottinger told a council meeting on Tuesday that whereas the city’s other relationship, with Kumagaya in Japan, was acknowledged to be a cultural one, the Suqian relationship identified in a memorandum of understanding was for mutual commercial opportunities.
Promises had been made by the Chamber of Commerce and Venture Southland (now Great South) and seven years down the track it was time to ask what had been delivered.
“Or do we retract what we have put on our website and say it didn’t happen?’’
After debate, Pottinger agreed to a council resolution to seek a report on ways to reactivate the relationship, and stressed he had been seeking accountability for the level of achievements to date.
Cr Tom Campbell said it would be almost impossible to tie this or any other sister city relationship with exact numbers of extra tourists or extra dollars. But he noted more than $700 million of Southland’s exports through the port of Bluff went to China.
“To me, it’s sensible to have sister city relations with a country that takes 30% of our exports.’’
Cr Alex Crackett, who was part of a southern delegation to Suqian in 2017, said the agreement between the two cities was to develop not only economic benefits but also education, sport and tourism ones.
Although Covid had interrupted tourism plans, there had been sporting and educational exchanges, she said.