Auckland to foster special friends

Photo / Paul Estcourt

Auckland Council has picked 10 of its 30 overseas relationships for special grooming, in the hope of gaining more economic and social benefits.

The top 10, including sister cities Brisbane, Los Angeles and Guangzhou, is the result of Mayor Len Brown asking for a review of all relationships inherited from the merger of the seven globe-trotting councils in November.

The Strateg.Ease consultancy was asked to review relationships stretching back 40 years, ranging from sister and friendship cities, strategic business alliances, twin-town relationships and memorandums of understanding or co-operation.

Council economic forum chairman Arthur Anae said the review did not give the cost of keeping relationships but pointed to where Auckland could get maximum benefit.

A further nine sister-city or friendship-city relationships stay for cultural and social reasons, and seven - rated as of low regional significance - would be kept by local boards and interest groups. Four inactive relationships would be dropped.

The report said suggestions of extending relationships to India and the United Arab Emirates would take two to three years to weigh up and need extra resources for the council's international relations team of five.

India is the third-highest source of overseas students and the fourth-top source of overseas-born residents.

The review looked at economic indicators for two-way trade and tourism, and free-trade deals.

The contribution of inbound tourism to Auckland's gross domestic product was estimated at $1.96 billion to the region's economy.

The number of international students in Auckland was an important factor, with figures suggesting Auckland gets 58 per cent of the $1.22 billion annual return from the export education industry.

The review also looked at the country of origin and ethnic identity of Auckland residents and relations for youth, culture and community groups. The Chinese market was growing rapidly and sister city links could boost it. Guangzhou showed much promise.

Since April, China Southern Airlines had direct flights to Auckland, and this was estimated to bring in 25,000 visitors and $75 million in spending in the first year.

The only monetary value on relationships was estimated in a 2007 Covec report for Auckland City Council. Eight partnerships directly added $55 million a year to Auckland's economy, mainly from students.

An economic study due late next year was likely to revise that value significantly upwards, given that Auckland had partnerships with seven of the top 15 sources of overseas students.

Other relationships focus on industry sectors such as Brisbane and bioscience, and Busan (Korea) and film-making.

Mr Anae said the exercise was not as simple as dropping friends for those who seemed more valuable to business.

"You can't do that. You can't play with relationships with any nationality."

Three Pacific areas, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga are included in the top 10 because they are among the top sources of overseas-born residents.

Mr Anae said it was about maintaining relationships and improving the 10-to-1 imbalance in trade with them.

"It's to get the people of the Pacific producing for themselves rather than relying on others to keep giving aid."

The review confirmed that the former Manukau City's relationships with French Polynesia, Lake McQuarie and Newcastle (New South Wales) should be "abated" along with Sichuan Province in China.

Sichuan is one of China's main industrial areas but is rebuilding after an earthquake killed 90,000 residents in 2008.

The report said the former North Shore City relationship with Sichuan was difficult to maintain because of its size and urged focus on the three existing active and formal relationships with China.

TOP 10 MATES

Sister Cities:
* Brisbane, Australia, (1988)
* Guangzhou, China (1989)
* Ningbo, China (1998)
* Qingdao, China (2008)
* Busan, Korea (1996)
* Los Angeles (1971)

Strategic Alliance:
* Hamburg (2007)

Memorandum of Co-operation:
* Cook Islands (2000)
* Samoa (2005)
* Tonga (unsigned)