Mayoral Delegation to Formalise Friendship City Ties with Qingdao, China

Dunedin (Friday, 17 October 2014) – Strong interest from the Chinese city of Qingdao’s Foreign Affairs department in developing an official Friendship City relationship with Dunedin has prompted a major Mayoral delegation visit to Qingdao this month.

Eleven people representing Dunedin’s civic, educational and business interests will be in Qingdao for meetings and signings of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) from Tuesday 21 October to Friday 24 October. (The delegation will then travel on to Shanghai for a week of meetings there.) As well as the core group of 11 people, up to seven representatives from Dunedin high schools will join the delegation at times.

Qingdao is a port city that lies within eastern China’s Shandong Province. It has an urban population of some 4.5 million, but its jurisdiction includes five county-level cities, raising the total population to nearly nine million. Qingdao is known for its ‘blue economy’ of ocean-related industries, widely seen as the commercial future of the city.

The delegation includes Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, Deputy Mayor Chris Staynes and Dunedin City Council Business Development Advisor Ying Qin. The Otago Chamber of Commerce is sending its Chair Ali Copeman, Chief Executive John Christie and International Manager Cara Bradley. The tertiary education sector is represented by Otago Polytechnic’s Director of Internationalisation of Mark Doesberg and the University of Otago’s Pro Vice Chancellor (International) Professor Helen Nicholson and Business Manager of Global Partnerships/Biomedical David Grimmett. Ngāi Tahu is represented by Edward Ellison and Dr Katharina Ruckstuhl.

Mr Christie says, “Qingdao’s Foreign Affairs Office has shown strong interest in developing a Friendly Co-operative relationship, which creates practical levels of people-to-people, cooperative relations.

“Dunedin already has ties with Qingdao. A commercial MoU was signed in 2013 between what is now the DCC’s Enterprise Dunedin and the Qingdao Bureau of Commerce. Dunedin-based engineering company Scott Technology has a factory in the Qingdao district. It is also home to the Haier Group which bought Fisher & Paykel in 2012 and made the decision to increase job numbers at their Dunedin design centre following our 2013 Mayoral delegation there. We will be meeting Haier representatives while we’re in Qingdao.”

On Wednesday 22 October, a series of Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) will be signed, including the Friendly Co-operative Relations MoU.

An MoU between Enterprise Dunedin and the Qingdao Tourism Bureau is intended to encourage outbound tourism agents from both cities to develop holiday itineraries involving each other’s regions, and to share trade-related information.

Qingdao University, Otago Polytechnic and the University of Otago are signing a Letter of Intention to build relationships based around the Polytechnic’s strengths in fashion and textiles, and the University of Otago’s marine, dental and medical science expertise. University of Otago representatives will also meet with people from Qingdao’s Ocean University of China – a prominent marine science university.

Mr Christie says, “Dunedin’s Project China efforts lie in promoting our city’s tourism, food and beverages, technology and education. We have existing technological ties with Qingdao, and these agreements give us the chance to expand on that. We have established a growing relationship with our sister city, Shanghai, and gained so much from it. It only makes sense to visit more than one city when we are in China, developing further opportunities, and Qingdao is really, very keen.”

Mr Cull will arrive in Qingdao two days ahead of the delegation to make a presentation at the Qingdao International Ecocity and Green Roof Conference at the invitation of the Deputy Mayor of the Qingdao Municipal Government Mr Jianxiang Wang.

Mr Cull says, “I’ll be talking about our various efforts across the board to improve Dunedin’s environmental protection measures and resilience to climate change effects, and how sustainable practice is becoming ‘business as usual’ through our regulatory framework.”

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