In this issue

Dated: 23 September 2010

• From the National Office
• Leading a successful delegation to Nelson's Sister City in China,
• David Gonzalez coming to Gisborne.
• From David Hancock - Special Interest Visitors to Hutt City

Bill Woods speaks of the value of culture as an international language

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Delegate leader Bill Willmott points out that Sister City links open doors in countries far beyond the cities themselves.

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Sokesperson, Mrs Patricia Tauroa talks of maintaining cultural support for initiatives of significance

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From the National Office

The highlight of activities for September has been President Bill Woods, and Executive Officer Ann Verboeket's visit to Shanghai to participate in the 2010 international forum led by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the China International Friendship  Cities Association. The theme of the Forum was "Better Cities through Cooperation", and keynote speakers included the Princess of Tonga and ex president USA, Jimmy Carter. Our delegation leaders all spoke at conference and I have copies of their presentations available.

Highlights during the Forum, were a visit to EXPO ( most particularly to the New Zealand and Chinese pavilions), and the opportunity to spend time with our NZ Friendship Association colleagues. We were privileged to have 10 members of the New Zealand - Chinese Friendship Association with us, along with 11 members of the Maori - China Friendship Association and this was highlighted at a reception at New Zealand Central when Minister Pita Sharples, and Ambassador Carl Worker spoke of the importance of the Sister City, and Chinese Friendship City networks to the development of people to people relationships in China which were now leading through to economic value add for some cities.

It was pleasing to have our Sister City Representative in China,  Paul Rothville join with us at the Forum and to have the opportunity to continue to develop relationships with business networks at the same time. Please contact me for copies of all 3 speeches.

Leading a successful delegation to Nelson's Sister City in China,

Bill Findlater, Chief Executive , Nelson's Regional Economic Development Agency has just returned from leading a delegation on a 10 day visit to one of the three ‘Furnaces of China’, Nelson's Sister City, Huangshi, Nelson's sister city in the Hubei province. He says that it was both a great honour, and a terrific opportunity to develop business relationships and export opportunities for their region.  Huangshi has a population of 2.6 million, the surrounding province has 30 million, and Bill says the opportunities from establishing business ties are immense.“There is an eagerness from the people in Huangshi, both political and business groups, to expand on the relationships already established,” Bill says. “We were very well received and were shown around a number of the key industries.” The Mayor of the City, Yang Xiaobo, assured the group he would do whatever he could to assist business relations. The delegation, including Dot Kettle from the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce and local representatives from the NZ China Friendship Society, was invited to attend the 60th anniversary celebrations of the city and their first International Festival of Huangshi Mining, Metallurgical, Culture and Tourism. It has been five years since the last visit, with the delegations helping to continue the friendship started in 1995 when the Sister City agreement between Nelson and Huangshi was signed.

David Gonzalez coming to Gisborne.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary with Palm Desert, California Gisborne District Sister Cities is current negotiating to bring David Gonzalez, internationally acclaimed, award-winning, story teller/musician/poet/actor and educator to New Zealand in September 2012.

From London's Royal National Theater to Broadway to hundreds of schools across North America, Gonzalez has performed to more than 5,000 audiences worldwide. A winner of the Helen Hayes Performing Artist of the Year Award, Gonzalez is applauded for his vocal, physical and narrative talents and gift for mimicry, comic timing, and wordplay. Relying on the majesty and variety of language, the limitless landscape of imagination, the pulse of music and the beauty of art, he creates and performs multimedia productions that capture audiences of all ages and cultures. Performed with a brilliant comic spark, passionate intelligence and impeccable timing, all of his educational shows inspire, delight and deliver messages that speak to kids. David has performed more then 4000 school shows and was host of New York Kids on New York Public Radio for 8 sessions. In view of what this talented performer can offer to our communities encompassing adults, educators and children we are seeking interest from other Sister Cities throughout New Zealand in hosting/funding performances by David.

You can check out David’s website at www.davidgonzalez.com/ Gisborne is keen to know whether anyone would be keen to share in this exciting opportunity?
 

From David Hancock - Special Interest Visitors to Hutt City

Over the past month Hutt City has received three significant special interest groups, each of which was here for a week. All of these groups are coordinated by the Hutt City i-SITE Visitor Centre.

An annual group of Japanese teachers were here to visit and learn from the full spectrum of schools and educational facilities which we have in Hutt City. This was a group of 12 teachers from throughout Kansai, Japan. 

Another annual group of Japanese rugby players and coaches were here to improve their playing and coaching skills under the guidance of Rugby and Beyond. This was a group of 40 players and coaches from various schools in Kansai, Japan. Rugby and Beyond is a business which has grown from the first rugby programme coordinated three years ago. Rugby and Beyond have gone on to coach in South Africa and Japan and are looking to other markets. David Pollock and Christian Cullen are the owners and coaches in Rugby and Beyond. 

A group of Texans were left stranded when their travel plans to Brazil fell over. They contacted Sister Cities New Zealand who sent out the distress call. Hutt City was the first to respond and so we received 15 Texan high school kids and two adults for a week.