Sister cities of Guangzhou, Los Angeles, Auckland join forces

Led by mayor Len Brown, a delegation from Auckland, New Zealand took the stage and chanted a Maori love song, eliciting cheers and applause at a gala dinner in Guangzhou for the founding of a tripartite economic alliance between Guangzhou, Auckland and Los Angeles on Nov 16.

In response to the love call from the city's old friend for 25 years, Guangzhou Mayor Chen Jianhua sang a Chinese folk song and led his colleagues from the city government in a chorus of "Unity is the Power".

Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, and Auckland celebrate the 25th anniversary of their sister city relations this year. Chen has been invited to attend a forum for mayors from China and New Zealand which opens on Friday during President Xi Jinping's visit to New Zealand.

The connection between Guangdong and New Zealand dates back to 1865, when gold miners from the province arrived at the Otago region on the South Island as the first Chinese visitors to the country.

Today, about 180,000 of Auckland's population of 1.5 million are of Chinese origin, one-third of them from Guangdong.

Trade between Guangzhou and New Zealand has been booming. The total volume in imports and exports in the first three quarters of this year hit $540 million, up 48.22 percent from a year ago.

Leaders from Guangzhou and Auckland said they share the same goal of deepening the sister city relationship by encouraging economic cooperation in new areas and by teaming up with Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States and a sister city to both Guangzhou and Auckland.

The economic alliance is the world's first tri-city engagement.

The three parties have identified the sectors where they will focus their energies with substantive cooperation - innovation, film and TV, trade, tourism and education.

Innovation including clean energy, information technology, biomedicine and other high-tech industries is the sector where more "marriages between Chinese capital and New Zealand's new ideas" should happen, said Auckland Mayor Brown.

"We are developing strong as a city and as a country in the area of innovation and new technology. We are very good at transitioning new ideas grown by people at universities and technical institutes into startup companies but we don't have enough capital investment for those companies to grow bigger," Brown said.

He said that Guangzhou's high-tech zone impressed him the most during a three-day field trip. He said he hopes to see technologies from Auckland developed there "with great energies".

"Partnership between big Chinese businesses and new New Zealand's ideas and technologies is how we see our future relationship going forward," Brown said, adding that he wants to show the Chinese that New Zealand has more than diary products and milk powder.

Golden prospect

New Zealand's exports to Guangdong are mainly dairy products, honey, wines, seafood and meats, according to Rebecca Needham, Consul-General of New Zealand in Guangzhou.

She added that New Zealand's new technologies are also attracting attention.

"The Chinese people's demand for better quality of life will continue to grow with the rise of middle class. They would like to have better food, healthcare, education and travel, all of which they can find in New Zealand," Needham said.

"Growth in tourism to New Zealand is the most promising from Guangzhou, with China Southern Airlines providing daily double flights between the city and Auckland."

The Guangzhou-based airline opened a direct flight from Guangzhou to Auckland in 2011, then increased the frequency and made it a daily double flight from Oct 26.

China Southern has nearly 40 percent of the market for flights from China to New Zealand.

China is the fastest growing source of tourists to Auckland, said Brett O'Riley, chief executive for tourism, events and economic development at the Auckland Council.

The organization's statistics recorded 220,000 visitors to Auckland from China by September this year. Some 73 percent of the 43,000 visitors from southern and eastern China by September were from Guangdong province.

"As the market continues to grow, there are investment opportunities in hotels, restaurants, shopping and tour companies. Many local tour companies (in Auckland) are interested in partnering with Chinese investors," said O'Riley.

"It is so pleasing to see Chinese investments in Auckland (to help develop the tourism industry). We are very keen to encourage more of them," O'Riley said.

He told China Daily after a roundtable meeting with tourism officials from Guangzhou and Los Angeles that the three cities look to organize three-way tours, making visa procedures easier while better educating the traveling public on the resources in each city.

"We have discovered during this visit how beautiful Guangzhou is as a city. But not everybody in New Zealand knows because their memory of Guangzhou may be old," O'Riley said.

He said he is confident that the ties between Guangzhou and Auckland, as well as between China and New Zealand, will keep growing.

"President Xi's visit to New Zealand is a great honor for our city and our country. It is a great sign of the guangxi - or relations - between the two countries," said O'Riley.

xujingxi@chinadaily.com.cn

Guangzhou Mayor Chen Jianhua and Auckland Mayor Len Brown watering a newly planted tree to mark the 25th anniversary of sister-city ties. Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 11/21/2014 page6)