Mayor’s overseas travel plans outlined
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A report seeking approval for travel overseas to strengthen Christchurch’s international relations will be considered by the Council on Thursday.
Christchurch has sister city relationships with seven overseas cities or provinces and the Christchurch City Council’s International Relations Policy, adopted in 2013, allows for the Mayor to visit each of them once every three-year term in office.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel.
In her first term in office Mayor Lianne Dalziel visited three of Christchurch’s sister cities – Christchurch, England in 2014 and Wuhan and Gansu Province in China in 2015.
The Council is now being asked to give its approval for the Mayor to visit the remaining sister cities.
“Our sister city relationships have resulted in some strong economic and cultural ties and created many new opportunities for Christchurch but it is important we continue to invest in them,’’ says Council Civic and International Relations Manager Duncan Sandeman.
This year it is proposed the Mayor should lead a delegation to Seattle and visit Adelaide to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Christchurch and Adelaide’s sister city relationship.
It is also proposed the Mayor should visit Songpa-Gu while she is in Korea for the New Cities Summit.
Next year it is proposed the Mayor should travel to Kurashiki, Japan to mark the 45th anniversary of that sister city relationship – the first established between a New Zealand and Japanese city.
It is also proposed the Mayor should attend the World Cities Summit and Mayor’s Forum in Singapore.
In 2019 it is proposed she travel to China to attend the New Zealand China Mayoral Forum and to visit Sichuan – a province the Council’s international relations team is looking to forge a formal relationship with.
It is estimated the Mayor’s international travel will cost about $22,000 over three years but those costs will be offset, where possible, by combining her travel with externally funded engagements and by contributions from accompanying business people.
For example, when the Mayor travelled to Christchurch, England most of the costs of that trip were met by World Bank as it had invited her to speak at a forum in London. The Council only had to pay the cost of her train travel between London and Christchurch.
The costs of the Mayor's proposed travel to Singapore next year will be reimbursed by the organisers of the World Cities Summit.