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Delegation details complicate twinning agreement

Travel arrangements are standing in the way of the city finalizing its twinning agreement with a Chinese counterpart. Prince George and Jiangmen were expecting to have already formalized a sister city accord by now.
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Travel arrangements are standing in the way of the city finalizing its twinning agreement with a Chinese counterpart.

Prince George and Jiangmen were expecting to have already formalized a sister city accord by now.

"We hoped that they would be here by late spring, but they haven't been able to secure all of their travel arrangements and so we're hoping for something this fall," said Mayor Shari Green.

The visit from the Jiangmen delegation would wrap up the process that began in 2010 when the council of the day agreed to pursue a twinning relationship with the city in China's Guangdong province. Mayor Dan Rogers traveled to China with councillors Garth Frizzell and Don Basserman and city staff that September.

The visit was returned the following month by a Jiangmen delegation and a letter of intent to twin the cities was signed at city hall.

Green, councillors Dave Wilbur and Lyn Hall, acting city manager Kathleen Soltis and Initiatives Prince George CEO Heather Oland returned to Jiangmen in 2012 where the two cities signed a memorandum of understanding.

Green, Oland and city manager Beth James returned to Jiangmen last year to "continue to explore opportunities for co-operation, particularly in the areas of local government administration, economic development, education and culture," according to an October 2013 report to council.

Two non-government delegations from Jiangmen visited Prince George last year as well - representatives from Wuyi University arrived in May to sign a memorandum of understanding with UNBC and a group of healthcare officials toured local facilities in October.

"We're certainly ready to go, as are they, but they're having a little more difficult time getting government access for trips out of the country," said Green.