 Minister Ida Chong's
Mission Journal
Day 5 — November 23
Click photos for larger image.
Minister Ida Chong presents a
copy of the BC- Asia Twinning Tool Kit to the
Vice-Governor of Shunde District of Guangzhou.
Former residents of Shunde will establish an
association in Vancouver next year. They
extended an invitation to B.C.'s minister to
attend their first meeting. |
This photo was taken
Nov. 23 during the first-ever
meeting between the British Columbia
government and the China Association of
Mayors. B.C.'s Minister of
Community Services Ida Chong (in red) is
seated on the right side of the table.
|
During her Nov. 23
meeting with the China Association of
Mayors, B.C.'s Community Services Minister
Ida Chong presents the association's Beijing
representative with a book entitled
Local Government in B.C., which has
been translated into Chinese.
|
Minister Chong and
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe (second from
left) with representatives of the China
Association of Mayors. Photo was taken
in front of the association's office in
Guangzhou.
|
Minister Ida Chong with the
Governor of Guangdong Province, Huang Huahua,
during the Nov. 23 portion of her 10-day mission
to China. |
Journal entry for Nov. 23
Our meeting with officials of one of the four
“tigers” of Guangdong, the Peoples’ Government of
Shunde District, Foshan City, approximately one hour
outside of Guangzhou, left impressions of
overwhelming competitiveness and efficiency in this
area known for concentrated expertise in major
appliance design, innovation, production and
marketing.
Twenty per cent of China’s production of major
appliances comes from Shunde, known as China’s
capital of home appliance manufacturing. Forty-two
per cent of the city’s industrial output value is
created by foreign funded enterprises.
A modern, dynamic and prosperous city of
1,000,000, it holds tremendous opportunities for
economically robust twinning relationship with
competitive British Columbia communities. I was
informed that a Shunde Chinese Overseas Association
was being developed to be established in Vancouver
and I was delighted to be invited to their impending
inaugural meeting as a keynote speaker, next year.
In the afternoon, I met with the senior executive
of the Chinese Association of Mayors who flew in
from Beijing to meet with me. I presented the Asia
Pacific Initiative and Gateway DVD and we explored
opportunities and options for further collaboration.
I think there are some very exciting
opportunities for the Union of BC Municipalities and
clearly making the connection with this association
as we strengthen the twinning bonds between our two
countries has been vital. Mayors and Vice-Mayors and
certain other senior officials of China’s cities and
districts are members, 5000 strong and over 10 per
cent of the members are women.
In the evening, I had an opportunity to briefly
meet Governor Huang Huahua at a reception prior to
the 3rd Canton International Tourism and Culture
Festival, a week long series of events celebrating
the many tourism attractions of the province. With
Guangdong our sister province, Governor Huang,
remembered fondly his last visit to British Columbia
in 2005 where he and Premier Gordon Campbell,
reaffirmed the significant sister province
relationship on the 10th anniversary.
The evening was capped off by a truly spectacular
event — the opening ceremonies of the Tourism and
Culture Festival. This event featured performances
of many of China’s rising stars and literally
thousands of performers in 14 different acts under
the theme of Guangdong’s association with the ocean. |
