Mayors Speech to the Staff and Students of HUST

Thursday 6 April 2006

Ni Hao Ma (How are you)

Distinguished staff and students of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, ladies and gentlemen.

As mayor of the city of Christchurch I am honoured to bring you greetings from our city on what I consider to be a very important and historic occasion - the signing of a friendship agreement between our two rapidly developing cities.

I am delighted to be here in Wuhan with my wife, Pam, to represent the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. I would also like to introduce Diane Keenan, the Christchurch City Council Communication and Consultation Manager and Larry Podmore our Christchurch – Wuhan Strategy Manager, and Eugene Feng our Asian project manager.

Included in the group that has come with me to Wuhan are people from the New Zealand horse racing industry, agricultural research and development, environmental planning and members of our education sectors.

This is a wonderful way to start our new Friendship agreement – spending an hour or two with students of HUST – world leaders of tomorrow. It is extremely exciting to talk about the relationships between our two cities and to look to a prosperous future together. Whilst we are very different cities we also have a lot in common.

Christchurch is New Zealand’s leading science and technology and innovation city. The rapid globalisation of the world’s economy has led us to believe that our city and our people have to make their own destiny. National governments are the glue that holds formal diplomacy between nations together, but it is the cities that have the major role in city to city, and region to region relationships, where more specific economic and social goals can be achieved.

As Christchurch reaches out to the world, our people are also looking to see where we are on the world stage. We see ourselves as a boutique city and one where our people are highly skilled and deeply engaged in developing new techonologies for an ever changing global market.

Our people are industrious, clever, focussed and very much aiming for niche or small market mastery. We want to achieve a complimentary relationship that is demonstrated on the world stage as two cities working together economically and socially. As New Zealand was the first country to recognise China as a market economy, we believe that Christchurch and Wuhan can show the world a new way of implementing global city partnerships.

China has a long and amazing history and its presence has always had a huge impact on its neighbours. The 21st century is seeing the rise of China as a global centre of economic and political significance and this is an exciting change for all of us in the Asia Pacific region. For Christchurch and New Zealand it puts us closer to the centre of the world’s most rapidly developing region.

Christchurch has vision to be a world class boutique city with a first class lifestyle, a first class environment, a diversity of landscapes and a unique economic base. A place where our people enjoy living and learning and a place with great work opportunities. We also want to be part of a global innovation and investment network. Christchurch offers for Wuhan an east–west bridge where we bring the best of our networks together.

I often say the best way to describe our environmental efforts is to point out that Christchurch is one of the few cities in the world where we have actively regenerated our swamps. We are also restoring our waterways, and as we re-plant the native bushes and flaxes along the river banks we have been delighted to find our native birds have also made their journey back. Every year increasing numbers of birds and flora and fauna are being reported within the city boundaries.

We have hundreds of parks and reserves, a fact that helped us win the title of World's top Garden City. Our city’s planning focuses on environmental sustainability, balancing our natural resources with our growing infrastructure and minimising our city’s waste products. We believe it is important to learn from the experiences of others and in doing so add our bit towards a clean and safe environment. The people of Christchurch enthusiastically support our Garden City status and work hard at the community level to improve on a clean and green image for our city.

Christchurch is the axis for a new, hi tech industry in New Zealand. Traditionally Christchurch has been dependent on agriculture and the sale of agricultural products to the world. Today the city’s economy is increasingly dependent on hi tech industries. I believe innovation and research and building good relationships around the globe, are some of the keys to a very bright future for our region, and we see our friendship with Wuhan as a vital link to that future.

Christchurch is also increasingly multi cultural and multi racial. Our people are our strength and the increasing diversity of the make up of our community is bringing new opportunities and skills into our city. As the Oceania Vice President of Mayor's for Peace I take a passionate interest in keeping our identity as a city dedicated to peace, family and harmony. We have also made an effort to make sure that Christchurch grows and at the same time holds onto what is best about the city. In other words we are intent on being a city that stays great to live in and to offer our people a high quality lifestyle.

We are well aware that it is part of our competitive edge when we engage with a city as dynamic as Wuhan, a culturally rich city with a history stretching back over 3000 years.

Christchurch has carved out a strong identity as a provider of quality education for our children, and for the children of many parents from around the world who have their children educated in the city. It is one of our goals as a city to ensure that the children who come great distances to attend school in Christchurch are cared for the same way we would want our own children cared for.

Friendship is the spring from which most other things flow. As friends our city would like to be able to share opportunities of mutual benefit with you. I see my visit here today as the springboard for Wuhan and Christchurch to begin to really tighten these ties of friendship and to go forward into new active areas of involvement. We are friends, and our friendship will inspire a prosperous future together.