Changes are in the wind for our sister-city relationships, says Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby.

Hitachi Mayor Yoshinari with Tauranga City Council Mayor Stuart Crosby. Photo: file.

He made the statement during this week's report to council on April's sister-city trip, the biennial jaunt by a delegation of local business and political interests to Japan and China.

'I think it is time for a review,” says Stuart, who has recently returned from the trip to the cities of Hitachi in Japan and Yantai in China.

The focus of the two-week journey was on strengthening business education and tourism links with the cities, as well as looking at opportunities for closer economic engagement with Ansan in South Korea.

The relationships have endured for more than 20 years, mainly because early on the parties agreed to try to maintain a strong business and trade focus.

From Tauranga's perspective, the commercial advantages for the region justify the travel cost. This year's trip cost ratepayers $14,064 for the mayor's airfares, some accommodation costs and gifts on behalf of the city.

Councillor Matt Cowley paid his own way, as did the rest of the delegates.

The returns far outweigh the cost of the Mayor's ticket, says Export NZ Bay of Plenty executive officer and trip leader Angela Wallace.

The returns from just one container of wine, or the arrival of another exchange student, will cover the city's investment. As well as export sales, the delegation has returned with offers of access for BOP products to a 36-store supermarket chain in China's Shandong Province.

'We decided as part of the 10-year plan to review the whole sister city/international relations [as] it hasn't been reviewed for about eight years,” says Stuart.

The review will include making sure the future investment is appropriate. Part of the funding is via a targeted rate to Export NZ and some of it comes from the general rate.

The other issue is that over the period of a year, Tauranga City Council will receive about half a dozen delegations, generally from Asia, and the city needs to discuss how to manage them for the benefit of the city.

'My personal view is we don't need any more sister cities, but we do need a mechanism to consider the opportunities as these delegations come through,” says Stuart.

A good example is the Ansan delegation that came through about 14 months ago, he says. They are not going to be a sister city but they are going to create an economic opportunities for our city.

'How, moving forward, are we going to manage those?”

Another element that will be discussed, likely with Priority One, is how the city investigates international investment, people coming in wanting to invest in local businesses or real estate.