City Signs MOU With Chinese City
Prince George, B.C.- The City of Prince George welcomed some visitors from China yesterday and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Suzhou City in Anhui Province of the People’s Republic of China. The event was in recognition of each municipality’s desire to accelerate bilateral dialogue and friendly cooperation.
This is not the first visit to Prince George by delegates from Suzhou, representatives were here last December and expressed an interest in entering a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) towards a sister city agreement. That agreement would focus on trade, education, culture, and technology.
Suzhou is particularly interested in purchasing wood products, such as hemlock and pine, for a new home furnishing and manufacturing zone being constructed in their region.
“On behalf of Council and the City of Prince George, I want to express how pleased we are to be entering this agreement between our respective governments,” says Mayor Hall. “Prince George is strategically located on the shortest trade route between Asia-Pacific and US heartland markets and provides an ideal location for transportation, logistics, manufacturing, and export operations. This MOU provides us with a solid base from which to increase understanding among our cities and to establish a mutually profitable long-term relationship.”
According to the MOU, regular contact will be maintained between the civic leadership and relevant departments of both communities .
Comments
So we signed an agreement with the 38th most polluted city in China? Seems like a perfect fit for PG
The MOU is often the first stage in the formation of a formal contract. An MOU is far more formal then a handshake and is given weight in a court of law should one party fail to meet the obligations of the memorandum.
We need to put up some more flagpoles so we can fly the flags of all our sister cities.
So is this a new era for City Council? More trips to China.
How many sister cities do we have now and can anyone point out any tangible benefits from these agreements?
While these MOU agreements are helpful in bringing economic benefit to the city, a much more sensible arrangement was the Initiatives Prince George program which the city has shut down. This program really did help investors get established here, and its loss is not good for this community.
I thought IPG was involved with this sister city program.
We should look into establishing a brother city program which means we get raw materials from other countries and manufacture goods in PG.
I find it blatantly sexist.. Why no brother cities. We have 50-60 sister cities yet not one brother city.. How do you people sleep at night :-)
Meanwhile in Suzhou City someone blogs
So we signed an agreement with the 22nd most most crime ridden city in B.C.?
“Suzhou is particularly interested in purchasing wood products, such as hemlock and pine, for a new home furnishing and manufacturing zone being constructed in their region.”
Does this mean more exports of raw logs?
Excellent comment gopg2015. Perhaps we should erect another flag pole, not just at city hall, but at our legislature in Victoria and on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, because now that Harper has signed the FIPA with China, they own us!
I think we have a shortage of pine for the next 40+ years. Try Eastern Canada.
We have big brothers and big sisters. We should have sister and brother cities as well. Or maybe mom and dad cities.
Where do they come up with these ridiculous tags?
On an associated issue, we could use some Chinese treeplanters.
Better yet gopg2015, how about a tree planting company owned by a company from China, hiring Chinese temporary foreign workers, to replant our trees. Hey if it works for the coal industry in Tumbler Ridge, why not for our forests? Sounds like FIPA to me!
Why do we have a sister/brother City in a Communist country? Why not Japan or Korea. City council is wasting our hard earned dollars in the past on trips for what?
Grizz….I think Colin Kinsley liked to go there so he could feel tall, but I don’t have an answer for the others.
Do we have any hemlock in this area.??
The hemlocks in my neck of the woods are suffering horribly from dwarf mistletoe . Between that and foreign demand for the incredibly beautiful wood they produce I don’t think they stand a chance . We should be planting dragon wood .
And sugar maples .
Interceptor askes: “can anyone point out any tangible benefits from these agreements?” Good question…. Anyone? If there are economical advantages/benefits, the information should be readily available from past agreements. I just don’t know where to look.
Oh look… I spelled “asks” wrong…I must be from Abbattsferd.
What base goods are we going to be receiving from this city?
As a citizen of Prince George, I feel like a mushroom… always in the dark and fed shite fertilizer, when it comes to important agreements or MOU’s our city signs.
Suggest City Hall increase it’s transparency, because some of us are curious as to what the city is committing itself to, and for how long… too many deals being made behind closed doors, or are being referred to vaguely, at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels.
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