Sister-city relationship celebrates 30th year

TWO places more than 8,000km apart and in opposite hemispheres have celebrated three decades of friendship and cultural exchange.

A delegation from the Chinese city of Lianyungang visited Wurriki Nyal late last year month to mark 30 years of its sister-city relationship with the City of Greater Geelong.

The sister-city relationship stemmed from a proposal by the former Shire of Corio in 1989, with the relationship established after the municipality became the City of Greater Geelong following amalgamation in the 1990s.

An important part of China’s freight industry, Lianyungang has many similarities to Geelong: both are port cities linking eastern sea routes with western land routes.

Lianyungang has a strong history in farming and agriculture and is developing new healthcare, materials, and energy industries.

During their visit to Geelong, the delegation visited Geelong Port and learnt about the Advanced Fibre Cluster.

As part of the visit, the delegation participated in a book exchange with the city, with each city receiving a collection of cultural, historical and tourism-focused books.

The exchange was led by the council’s economic development portfolio chair Cr Trent Sullivan, and Ma Shiguang, secretary of Lianyungang Municipal Committee of CPC and chair of the Standing Committee of Lianyungang Municipal People’s Congress.

The books exchanged from the city, including Humans in Geelong: Inspire, Connect, Strengthen and Geelong Gallery Collections will go to a special sister city shelf at the Lianyungang library, while the books received from Lianyungang will be made available to the Geelong community, encouraging people to learn about and visit Lianyungang.

There have been multiple delegations from Lianyungang over the relationship’s three decades, with representatives from the city travelling to Lianyungang in 2016.

Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj said sister-city relationships were extremely valuable.

“As a former president of the Geelong Ethnic Communities Council, now known as Cultura, I’ve seen first-hand how these types of relationships support multiculturalism and cultural exchange in our city.

“With so many different cultures in Geelong, our city is a great success story, and we enjoy relationships with cities in several countries including China, South Korea, Japan and East Timor, which are very important to us.”

Cr Trent Sullivan said the book exchange was a great way for the two cities to learn about each other.

“It was a pleasure to host Mr. Ma Shiguang and the Lianyungang delegation at Wurriki Nyal.

“A selection of books highlighting Geelong will be in Lianyungang’s library, and we’ll be making the books we’ve received available to the community.”