New Westminster Asia mission to foster economic development, culture and education ties

New Westminster – A delegation of New Westminster city councillors and senior staff will depart for Asia next week on a mission to explore closer economic development, cultural and educational opportunities. The mission is being funded in part from the remaining portion of a $50,000 Province of British Columbia grant provided to the City to support twinning initiatives with Asian cities.

“Our delegation will travel first to China and then to Japan to bring officials there up to date on economic development opportunities that exist in New Westminster,” said Mayor Wayne Wright. “In our meetings, we’ll also discuss closer cultural and educational ties and how each of our cities can benefit from that into the future.”

New Westminster has actively fostered special relationships with Asian cities for a number of years. The Royal City currently enjoys sister-city status with Lijiang, China, Moriguchi, Japan and Quezon City Philippines. In June 2008, New Westminster established “friendship city” status with Chinese cities YunFu and Zhenjiang.

The city delegation will leave New Westminster on October 18th and travel to China, meeting with government officials in YunFu City, Xinxing County, Lijiang, Datong, Taiyuan, Xinzhou and Beijing before travelling on to Japan to hold meetings in Moriguchi and Osaka. The delegation will return on November 2nd. New Westminster’s Manager of Economic Development will also travel to Seoul, Korea for exploratory meetings with business leaders and trade associations for the purpose of forging an economic development partnership agreement between the two cities.

New Westminster’s delegation includes:

· Mayor Wayne Wright
· Councillor Betty McIntosh
· Councillor Bill Harper
· Councillor Jaimie McEvoy
· Councillor Lorrie Williams
· Paul Daminato, City Administrator
· Rick Page, Corporate Officer & Sister City Liaison
· Mitchell Edgar, Manager of Economic Development

“New Westminster is a city on the move and that is the key message we want to deliver,” said Wright. “We are very well-positioned to attract investment from foreign companies looking to expand into the North American market and will continue to foster closer ties with Asia counterparts into the future.”

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Contact:
Blair Fryer
Communications Manager
604-527-4688
bfryer@newwestcity.ca