The three-hour intense discussions that led to, well...
An August 25, 2017 meeting in Suqian, China - a sister city to Invercargill - was tipped to be the start of something big, particularly for Southland businesses. But what has eventuated?
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It was described as three hours of “intense discussions”.
In August 2017 a delegation of Invercargill civic and business leaders met with 15 high-ranking representatives from the Suqian Municipal People’s Government, businesses and tourism operators.
The meeting took place in Suqian, China - a sister city to Invercargill - and was tipped to be the start of something big.
The result of those three hours of intense discussions was the signing of a Business Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU says there will be cooperation around economy, education, sports, and tourism.
At the time the Invercargill council explained how it would allow Southland businesses greater access to Suqian, which is a city of 5.8 million people.
There was a lot of excitement as to what it all meant for Invercargill.
There was talk of hospital staffing exchanges, the prospect of Southland entering a team in the International Eco Quadrathlon adventure race in Suqian, a potential retail space in Suqian to sell Southland products, and the potential to create and sell Southland tourism tours.
Amongst other things.
However, during the seven years since that trip to China it’s largely been the sound of crickets - publicly at least - when it comes to that MOU, and the sister city relationship in general for that matter.
Then Deputy Mayor Rebecca Amundsen, then Chamber of Commerce President Carla Forbes and then Venture Southland Chief Executive Paul Casson signed the agreement on behalf of Invercargill.
All of those who signed the MOU have since departed their roles.
Venture Southland - which was a central figure in the discussions - has rebranded to Great South.
Others who made the trip to Suqian, China in 2017 were councillors Lesley Soper, Graham Lewis, and Alex Crackett, then city council CEO Richard King, and council staff member Eirwen Harris Mitchell, who spent five weeks there on a staff exchange.
At the time Invercargill had also facilitated sorting a rugby coach - Kaleni Taetuli - to work in Suqian for a period.
In the lead-up to the 2017 trip to Suqian - Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark - who is on a break from council to recover from heart surgery - labelled sending four councillors to Suqian “a joke”.
“The Southland Chamber of Commerce I could understand, Venture Southland I could understand… But that many going? That’s just a joke,” Clark told The Southland Times in 2017.
Clark was a spokesperson for the Invercargill Ratepayer Advocacy Group when he made those comments.
Seven years on - now as mayor - Clark still has some reservations around sister city relationships.
Although he’s aware that will prompt some to attach the hypocrite tag to him.
Clark attended a trip to Japanese sister city Kumagaya last year as part of an Invercargill delegation. He said he did travel after being advised that the Japanese people would be offended if the city’s mayor declined to attend.
Following the trip, Clark acknowledged there were some obvious benefits to being there in person. One of his examples was spotting what Kumagaya did with its waste and how that could be incorporated into New Zealand.
In terms of Invercargill’s relationship with Suqian, Clark believed there were a few factors at play as to why it hadn’t been all that prominent since that MOU was signed in 2017.
The pandemic was one of them.
Another factor was the trip to Kumagaya, Japan last year was a priority, given it marked 30 years of that relationship. Clark didn’t think there would be a public appetite for them to head off on a trip to China so close to going to Kumagaya.
“The community, quite rightly, says ‘What benefit is it for our community to go and link with a city somewhere else?’. We’ve got to sell that to the community.
“The last trip [to Kumagaya] cost ratepayers, I think, $35,000…. When the council spends $220 million a year, $35,000 is a bit of a drop in the ocean if it has some benefit.”
Clark acknowledged it was often hard to parade around the tangible benefits from sister city relations, such as the one with Suqian.
The relationship with Kumagaya was a bit more visible because of things like the school exchanges, Clark said.
“I guess [Suqian’s] been in a bit of limbo… Somewhere along the line, we’ll have to address the issue of our sister city in China.”
He said the Suqian sister city relationship hadn’t been raised during his time as mayor, both internally at the council and from those in Suqian.
“I’m picking that somewhere in the next 12 months we’ll start to arrange a visit again. We’ve done our Chinese Garden [at Queens Park] as a recognition to them, and I think they have done the same at their end.”
Clark said what would be up for debate would be if that sister city relationship continues in the future.
“I guess both parties have got to see some benefit in it to continue to do it.”
There was an “out clause” as part of the MOU but Clark added they needed to be aware of any consequences there might be if Invercargill chose to act on that.
China is a significant trading partner with New Zealand and Clark added they needed to be mindful it wasn’t just about the council, but also the wider community.
“Why do we have a sister city? It’s not just so some councillors here can go and meet some councillors there. You have to think about the impact on trade and development and you don’t want those relationships to be damaged.”
“We don’t see how much trade Alliance have got going into China, for argument’s sake. Also, how much Fonterra has got going into China - these are big issues. As a council, you wouldn’t want to put that at risk because of a knee-jerk reaction.”
However, that shouldn’t stop them from assessing the sister city arrangements, Clark said.
“When you look at the wider world, where would we want to put our energies in the future and who would we want to be connected to? I think Invercargill would be wise to look at India for a potential future sister city.
“I’m only reading the tea leaves, but it seems like India is developing a bit like China 20-30 years ago. It has a burgeoning wealthy middle-class.”
What a waste of time and money. Get on with running the city.
A good article as these things need to be reviewed to determine their value to the city and in most cases to the region as a whole. When it comes to commerce so should include The Southland District Council.