ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: September 1, 1995
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: City Clerk and Director of Economic Development
SUBJECT: Sister City Program
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council accept Yokohama's invitation to visit that City
in early October and request the Mayor of Vancouver to appoint
two members of Council and a member of the Economic
Development Office staff to attend. The City of Yokohama to
cover all costs except for a budget of $5,000 to be allocated
from contingency reserve to cover gifts and miscellaneous
expenses.
B. THAT Council accept Guangzhou's invitation to send a
delegation this Fall and request the Mayor of Vancouver to
appoint two members of Council and a staff member of the
Economic Development Office to attend with the City of
Guangzhou covering hotels, meals and local transportation.
The budget of $14,000 to be allocated from contingency
reserve.
C. THAT a City of Vancouver business mission be assembled by the
Economic Development Office to accompany the official
delegation to Guangzhou at their own expense.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Corporate Services RECOMMENDS approval of A,
B and C.
COUNCIL POLICY
When Council revised the Sister City Program in August 1991, it resolved
"THAT the City Clerk be instructed to contact Vancouver's Sister
Cities and establish a schedule of reciprocal official delegations
consisting of a maximum of four people per delegation, and an
interpreter where required, and no more than one incoming and one
outgoing delegation per year, if warranted."
"THAT, commencing in 1992, the Strategic Cities Program be
discontinued and that responsibility and present budgets for the
ongoing elements be reallocated as follows:
Sister City Relations $30,000 City Clerk's Dept.
Sister City Society Grants $15,000 Finance Dept.
Business Delegations $ 7,000 Finance Dept.
$52,000
It is normal for the host city to pay an official (4 member) incoming
delegation's accommodation, meal and local transportation costs. It has
been the City's practise to require other participants to pay all their
own expenses.
Council did not budget any funds for the "reciprocal official
delegations" in 1994 or 1995.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to request Council's approval to accept
the invitations to visit the City of Yokohama for October 1, 1995, and
to visit the City of Guangzhou in mid-November.
The report back "... on budget and hosting for future visiting
dignitaries", as requested by Council at its meeting of June 22, 1995,
will be presented to Council in the near future.
BACKGROUND
Invitation to visit Yokohama
This year is the 30th anniversary year of the twinning of Vancouver and
Yokohama. To honour this event Mayor Hidenobu Takahide and several
delegations of citizens, totalling 250 people, visited Vancouver from
June 29 to July 5, 1995.
The City of Yokohama has subsequently extended an invitation (see
Appendix A) for three representatives from the City of Vancouver to
attend the 30th anniversary celebration events to take place in Yokohama
on October 1, 1995, with all costs, including air transportation, hotels
and meals for 5 days paid for by Yokohama. This year is the 30th
anniversary not only of Yokohama's twinning with Vancouver, but also the
anniversary of Yokohama's relationships with Odessa, Bombay and Manila.
All four cities have been invited to attend this celebration.
Should the City of Vancouver accept this invitation, several members of
the business community have expressed an interest in accompanying the
city delegation, at their own expense, to follow up on business
opportunities identified during Mayor Takahide's visit to Vancouver. At
the same time representatives of the Chinatown Merchants Association
could visit Yokohama to sign a twinning agreement with Yokohama's
Chinatown, and the Chairman of B.C. Trade Development Corporation has
expressed an interest in participating to follow-up on the opportunity
to promote housing designed in B.C. and constructed from B.C. materials.
It is proposed the Mayor appoint two members of Council, to be
accompanied by a member of the Economic Development Office staff, as the
City representatives. If the City accepts this invitation, a budget of
$5,000 for gifts, per diems, etc., would be needed.
Invitation to visit Guangzhou
Very recently the City of Guangzhou forwarded an invitation (see
Appendix B) for three members of Vancouver's Council to visit Guangzhou
as guests of that City in the Fall of 1995. International airfare would
be the responsibility of the City of Vancouver but, all expenses while
in Guangzhou would be paid by Guangzhou.
If the City of Vancouver accepts this invitation the cost to the City
would be as follows:
Economy airfares (return) X 3 $ 6,000
6 day per diems less meals provided X 3 1,500
City of Vancouver hosted banquet 4,000
Gifts and contingencies 2,500
Total: $14,000
Concurrent with this invitation, the Economic Development Office
received information concerning an important business conference which
the City of Guangzhou will be hosting. The title is "Guangzhou Sister
City Economic Working Conference" and it will be attended by 200
representatives of major business and government organizations (state
owned businesses) located in Guangzhou. The stated purpose of the
conference is to promote the role of sister cities "as a business link".
Although these items were not linked, an opportunity exists to organize
a business mission to Guangzhou and to use the seminar as an means of
identifying business opportunities for Vancouver based businesses.
In addition, Guangzhou recently wrote asking for a gift from Vancouver
to complete a new friendship garden which is part of a larger park to be
opened in October of this year. The Vancouver Guangzhou Friendship
Society has considered assisting with this request but there is a need
for the City of Vancouver to play a role in providing some seed funding
thereby enabling the Society to attract corporate and individual
partners to support this endeavour. A report, on this matter will be
prepared for Council in the near future. However, if the gift to the
park is completed in time, it would be presented to the Mayor of
Guangzhou during this visit.
EVALUATION
Invitation to Visit Yokohama
Japan is a major trading partner with Canada and the focus of intensive
marketing by both the Federal and Provincial governments. The sister
city relationship is an excellent vehicle to assist in keeping the door
open for Vancouver business wishing to enter the Japanese market.
Acceptance of the Yokohama invitation provides an opportunity to
continue strengthening Vancouver's relationship with Yokohama with
little expense to the City of Vancouver. Should any representatives of
the business community accompany the official representatives they will
have an excellent opportunity to meet senior government and business
representatives.
Invitation to Visit Guangzhou
The opportunity to combine acceptance of the invitation to visit
Guangzhou with attendance at the Guangzhou Sister City Economic Working
Conference makes this invitation particularly attractive.
The recent twinning of British Columbia and Guangdong Province, where
Guangzhou is situated, has created a resurgence in Vancouver of interest
in business opportunities in southern China.
This renewed interest and the Mayor of Vancouver's participation as
leader of the Vancouver delegation, creates an excellent opportunity for
a business mission. All costs for the business delegation members would
be the responsibility of the individuals.
SUMMARY
By accepting these invitations, Vancouver is able to foster, at a
relatively low cost, the further development of business and cultural
exchanges with two of its sister cities. It also fulfils the City's
obligations with respect to officially visiting these cities in the near
future.
The acceptance of these invitations also opens doors for local
businesses who accompany the City's delegations.
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