A delegation from Lianyungang visited Wurriki Nyal this month to mark 30 years of its sister-city relationship with us.
The sister-city relationship dates back to a proposal by the Shire of Corio in 1989, with the relationship established after it became the City of Greater Geelong following amalgamation in the 1990s.
Lianyungang has many similarities to our city – known as China's 'East-West Freight Corridor', it is a port city linking eastern sea routes with western land routes. It 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 us, with each city receiving a collection of cultural, historical and tourism-focused books.
The exchange was led by the Chair of the Economic Development Portfolio, Cr Trent Sullivan, and Mr. Ma Shiguang, Secretary of Lianyungang Municipal Committee of CPC and Chairman of the Standing Committee of Lianyungang Municipal People's Congress.
The books exchanged from the City of Greater Geelong, 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 City of Greater Geelong representatives travelling to Lianyungang in 2016.
Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj OAM:
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.
Councillor Trent Sullivan:
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.
