THUNDER BAY – Coun. Brian McKinnon says one of the first questions posed by a delegation from Nanning, China was what would happen if 100,000 residents from the city of 7.5 million decided they wanted to move to Thunder Bay.
McKinnon countered that maybe the two communities should start with tourism discussions and go from there.
On Friday, the acting mayor inked a friendship agreement with Feng Xuejen, deputy secretary of the CPC Nanning Committee, a partnership that both sides say they hope yield economic benefits to both Thunder Bay and Nanning.
The Chinese city, located in the southwestern region of the Asian nation, has built its economy on information technology, the biomedical industry and equipment manufacturing.
The delegates, who had never been to Canada before, said they were struck by Thunder Bay’s port, surprised the city has shipping access not only to the United States, but through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, the rest of the world.
“I think we can have some co-operation for trade,” Xuejen told a gathering of city officials on Friday, moments before the deal was signed.
“You have agricultural products to ship to China and we have international products that can be shipped from China to Thunder Bay.”
McKinnon cautioned the partnership is in its earliest days, so it’s tough to pinpoint just how valuable it might become to Thunder Bay.
But the early signs are promising, he said.
“This (visit) was a real eye-opener,” McKinnon said. “Now they’ve started thinking long-term. They manufacture materials … and they were talking about shiploads of goods coming here and shiploads of stuff coming from here.”
In essence, the friendship agreement is no different that Sister City agreements the municipality has with five other communities around the globe, including Duluth, Minn., Gifu City, Japan, Little Canada, Minn. Seinajoki, Finland and Jiazuo City, China.
Only five are allowed under the city's sister city mandate, one of the reasons a friendship agreement capability was added a couple of years ago.
“It’s just a different name,” McKinnon said.
Like the sister cities program, it’s likely a delegation from Thunder Bay will make a return trip to China down the road, though McKinnon noted the costs would be covered by Nanning’s sister city program.
McKinnon said he expects to see returns start almost immediately.
“They do want to start right away,” he said.
Xuejen also expressed interest in the region’s abundant supply of natural resources.
The delegates were in Thunder Bay on Thursday and Friday.
