International links remain

The Manukau City Council will consolidate its international partnerships over the next year in a bid to increase their chances of continuing under the new Auckland Council.

Councillors at the policy and activities committee meeting on Tuesday also emphasised the benefits of such partnerships to the community and the business sector.

Manukau chief executive Leigh Auton told the committee the Auckland Transition Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade are aware of the city’s intention.

Councils will continue to raise the region’s profile internationally to attract investment and contribute to cultural understanding.

The ministry has advised councils not to make peremptory decisions about terminating such relationships because of "potential negative consequences at the national level", he says.

Over the transition period, Manukau’s relationship with sister city Utsunomiya in Japan will continue to focus on student exchanges and those with the Cook Islands and Samoa will be on fostering two-way trade and providing technical expertise on infrastructure issues.

Apart from strengthening relationships with existing partners, councillors also agreed to formalise relationships with the governments of Tonga and American Samoa, with particular focus on promoting two-way trade links.

The two Pacific nations were recently visited by a trade delegation from the city. Their inclusion will ramp up the number of international partnerships the council has to eight, including those with French Polynesia and Lake Macquarie and Newcastle in Australia.

The committee endorsed mayor Len Brown to lead delegations to the Cook Islands and Utsunomiya and for councillors to travel to Samoa to follow up on the 2009 trade delegation before October 2010.

- © Fairfax NZ News