Lord Mayor leads council delegation on China trip

A VISIT to the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Wuxi by a Cork City Council delegation, led by Lord Mayor Kieran McCarthy, is aiming to re-ignite partnerships that had been established before the covid pandemic.

The delegation from Cork City Council, which commenced in recent days and will continue until November 8, includes two councillors, Kenneth O’Flynn and Derry Canty, Cork City Council chief executive Ann Doherty and a number of other officials and Conor Healy, CEO of Cork Chamber of Commerce.

In a response to a query from The Echo, a Cork City Council spokesperson said that the costs for the visit had not been finalised as the trip was ongoing, but they would be a matter of public record.

In a statement setting out the highlights of the visit, the City Council said that Shanghai was twinned with Cork and that Wuxi was also a ‘partner city’.

“The programme in Wuxi includes high-level attendance at the 15th Chinese Renewable Energy Conference & Exhibition to discuss efforts to reach carbon neutrality, and meeting with senior Wuxi city leaders.

“Further to previous engagement, the delegation will meet with the Shanghai Women’s Federation to discuss further means of encouraging the full involvement of women in local politics, and in advance of a delegation visiting Cork later this year, the delegation will also meet with the Shanghai City Planning and Natural Resources Department.”

In Shanghai, the Cork delegation will meet with the Consul General for Ireland, Wendy Dornan-Smith, as well as representatives of other Irish state agencies to discuss opportunities for Cork. These discussions would focus on the Chinese International Import Expo, a platform for exporting companies to secure access to the Chinese market.

Further business engagements will include meetings with the Shanghai International Chamber of Commerce.

The Cork delegation also intends to visit Rujin Hospital in Shanghai to thank them in person for the donation of ventilators and PPE during the Covid pandemic, and an agreement which facilitates exchanges of best practice between GPs in Cork and Shanghai will also be discussed.