Wirral Council plans ‘sister’ relations with affluent Chinese cities
Wirral Council is hoping a pair of “sister city” agreements with two of China’s wealthiest cities could boost jobs and prosperity across the borough and the rest of Merseyside.
Council leader Steve Foulkes is due to fly out to Jiangsu Province in the next couple of weeks, with senior council officers, to sign the twinning agreements.
The move comes just a week before the council is due to consider a planning application by Peel – the company behind the £4.5on Wirral Waters project – for an International Trade Centre (ITC).
Last night, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for regeneration, Cllr Phil Davies, said the “sister city” agreement with the city of Taicang, at the mouth of the Yangtze River, “is a really exciting development”.
The agreement to be signed by Wirral Council leader Steve Foulkes and the Mayor of Taicang says: “The two sides agree to make concerted efforts, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, to promote people-to-people friendly contacts and economic and trade interflow between the two cities and actively carry out exchanges and cooperation in the fields of science and technology, culture sports, health, education.”
Cllr Davies said the agreement “from all angles is a big step forward for us” and added: “In this current economic climate, it’s important that we try and attract as much inward investment as we can and China is potentially a massive market for the UK. The fact that we have managed to develop this agreement augurs well.”
Cllr Davies also paid tribute to Peel, who he said “have been instrumental in opening doors for us” in developing the links.
A report by interim director of corporate services, Kevin Adderley, also said a request had been made for a “sister city” relationship from nearby Jiang Yin.
Jiang Yin, also in Jiangsu Province – the same as Suzhou/Taicang – has been the most affluent city in China, as measured by GDP per head for the last five years.
The report from Mr Adderley, which was approved by the council leader under delegated powers, called for Wirral “to begin discussions relating to the development of sister city relationships with Jiang Yin”.
It said this would be “building upon the financial partnership for the International Trade Centre developed by Peel Holdings”.
According to documents submitted in support of the planning application, the ITC would boost the local economy by up to £100m a year, create thousands of jobs and help kick-start the Wirral Waters development.
This year, developer Peel submitted hundreds of pages of plans to Wirral Council to support its £200m ITC proposal for Birkenhead docks, which would be the first of its type in western Europe.
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