Worcester looks east for Sister City agreement - The Worcester Observer

Worcester looks east for Sister City agreement

Worcester Editorial 12th Jul, 2015 Updated: 19th Oct, 2016   0

A LANDMARK agreement has been signed which will broaden Worcester’s economic and cultural horizons.

Council chiefs have signed a special ‘Sister City’ agreement with the city of Hezhou, located in the Guangxi Zhuang region of China.

The aim of the agreement is to cultivate greater co-operation in mutually beneficial areas such as trade, tourism, science and technology, as well as to provide educational opportunities for schools and individuals in both cities.

A delegation of 15 Chinese visitors, comprising government officials and business representatives from Hezhou, arrived in Worcestershire on Monday, June 29 to sign the agreement and to attend business meetings.




The five-year agreement has been drawn up over the past several months and saw City Council leader Coun Simon Geraghty and Labour group leader Coun Adrian Gregson visit Hezhou last November.

Should the tie-up prove successful, the agreement will be automatically extended beyond the initial period.


Coun Geraghty signed the agreement, which was translated into both Mandarin and English, at a special ceremony in the Guildhall hosted by the Mayor of Worcester, Coun Roger Knight.

“It is a great honour to welcome representatives from the Chinese city of Hezhou to Worcester,”said Coun Knight.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for both our cities to develop mutual understanding, build new friendships and to strengthen co-operation between our citizens.”

Coun Geraghty, said: “The signing of our Sister City agreement is the culmination of work undertaken by the Worcestershire Ambassadors over recent years to develop, economic, cultural and educational ties between our cities.”

Zhu Dong, Vice Mayor of Hezhou Municipal People’s Government said: “I would like to thank the representatives of Worcester City for their hospitality and look forward to working closely with the City in the future in many areas including education exchange programmes, healthcare and agriculture.

“In addition, many new business links have been made today and I would like to extend a welcome to you to visit Hezou in the future to continue to develop close relations between our cities.”

Visiting Chinese delegates listened to a presentation on World Class Worcestershire delivered by the Local Enterprise Partnership and attended numerous business meetings, including a lunch hosted at the Guildhall.

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