Sister Cities 27 February 2019
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WHAKATANE DISTRICT SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 AGENDA Meeting to be held in the Committee Room 1, Civic Centre, Commerce Street, Whakatane at 4:00 pm Steph O'Sullivan CHIEF EXECUTIVE 18 February 2018 WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 Whakatane District Sister Cities Committee - AGENDA TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM SUBJECT PAGE NO 1 Membership .............................................................................................. 4 2 Apologies .................................................................................................. 4 3 Conflict of Interest ..................................................................................... 4 4 Public Forum ............................................................................................. 4 5 Confirmation of Minutes ........................................................................... 5 5.1 Minutes Whakatāne District Sister Cities Association 24 October 2018 ...................................... 5 6 Kamagaya .................................................................................................. 8 6.1 Aidan Donald - 2018 Student Scholarship Report ....................................................................... 8 7 Shibukawa ............................................................................................... 10 7.1 Correspondence from Mayor of Shibukawa and Response ....................................................... 10 8 Sister Cities New Zealand ......................................................................... 14 8.1 Sister Cities NZ 2019 Conference .............................................................................................. 14 8.1.1 Appendix 1 - Conference Programme .............................................................................. 15 WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 Whakatane District Sister Cities Committee - AGENDA 1 Membership 1 Membership His Worship the Mayor A A Bonne Councillor A V Iles - Chairperson Councillor J C Jukes M Bryson M Eddy J R Farrell - Deputy Chairperson H Harison A Ranson L Ranson T Samal S Wilson S Winship A Donald 2 Apologies An apology for absence has been received from M Eddy 3 Conflict of Interest Members are reminded of the need to be vigilant to stand aside from decision making when a conflict arises between their role as an elected member and any private or other external interests they might have. 4 Public Forum The Board has set aside time for members of the public to speak in the public forum at the commencement of each meeting. Each speaker during the forum may speak for three minutes. Permission of the Chairperson is required for any person wishing to speak during the public forum. Applicants seeking funding from the Board are encouraged to speak in support of their application at this time. With the permission of the chairperson, Board Members may ask questions of the speaker but these should be confined to obtaining further information or clarification on matters raised by the speaker. 4 WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 Whakatane District Sister Cities Committee - AGENDA 5 Confirmation of Minutes 5 Confirmation of Minutes 5.1 Minutes Whakatāne District Sister Cities Association 24 October 2018 Details of Meeting: WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT SISTER CITIES COMMITTEE HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM 1, CIVIC CENTRE, WHAKATĀNE ON WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2018 COMMENCING AT 4:00 PM Present: His Worship the Mayor A A Bonne, Councillors A V Iles (Chairperson) and J C Jukes, J Farrell, H Harrison, S Wilson, T Samal, M Eddy In Attendance: H J Storey (Governance Support Advisor) Visitors A Donald, F McKenzie, N Robinson Apologies: A and L Ranson, S Winship, M Bryson 1. CONFLICT OF INTEREST Ms Harison declared an interest in the Item 8 - Student Scholarship application and did not participate in the decision making. 2. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES: 29 AUGUST 2018 Refer to pages 5-8 of the agenda. RESOLVED: THAT the minutes of the Whakatāne District Sister Cities Association meeting held on Wednesday, 29 August 2018 be confirmed as a true and correct record. Wilson/Eddy CARRIED 3. KAMAGAYA Refer to page 9 of the agenda. 3.1. Student Scholarship Refer to pages 10-11 of the agenda. Aidan Donald spoke to his application for the student scholarship to Kamagaya and noted that he had visited Japan in 2016 with a group from Trident High School and wanted to learn more about the country and culture. He advised that even as a young child he wanted to study languages so began studying Japanese at high school. Aidan said that Japanese had become his favourite subject and he would continue with it next year. He noted that he was studying hard to prepare for university in 2020 where he was considering taking either an architecture and design course or a linguistics course. 5 WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 Whakatane District Sister Cities Committee - AGENDA 5.1 Minutes Whakatāne District Sister Cities Association 24 October 2018 (Cont.) Aidan advised that he kept in regular contact with his 2016 host family and said that they would be visiting Whakatāne in the next few months. 4. CHINA 4.1. Update on Jiangxi Province Refer to pages 13 of the agenda and pages 13a-e of the tabled items His Worship the Mayor tabled an update on the EBOP Joint Committee relationship with Jiangxi Province in China and noted that Simon Appleton was arranging a delegation to visit the area in March 2018. The delegation would be made up of representatives from the Kawerau, Ōpōtiki and Whakatane District Councils, and the local business and educational sectors. A report would be provided to the Joint Committee on 12 November 2018 and to the Council on 12 December 2018. His Worship advised that Kawerau and Ōpōtiki had both sent delegations to China in the past, and noted that a dairy factory was currently being built at Kawerau and the Overseas Investment Office had recently approved the application for a sawmill to be built there also. RESOLVED: THAT the Eastern Bay of Plenty Delegation to Jiangxi to China report be received. His Worship the Mayor/Jukes CARRIED Attendance: F McKenzie and N Robinson entered the meeting at 4.25 pm 5. KAMAGAYA CONTINUED 5.1. Trident High School 2018 Visit to Kamagaya Refer to pages 9a-k of the tabled items. Faith McKenzie and Nile Robinson gave a power point presentation on the recent Trident High School visit to Kamagaya and other areas in Japan. They advised that the homestay hosts were very welcoming and nice and provided the students with comfort away from their own home. Nile noted that his host family took him to a number of different places, and visited the local primary school during the weekend where his host sister had an event. He said that the host mother spoke good English as she had travelled a lot, and the rest of the family spoke a little English so communication was in both languages. Faith noted that she had bonded quickly with her host family and said that the trip had over exceeded her expectations. She said that she managed to successfully go outside of her comfort zone and enjoy the whole experience including a school group singing Happy Birthday to her. She noted if that had occurred before the trip she would have run from the room. Faith and Nile noted that itinerary was interesting and varied and their host families invited them back to stay and want to come and visit them here. They thanked everyone for the support and the organisation of their itinerary and said it was a life changing experience. 6 WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 Whakatane District Sister Cities Committee - AGENDA 5.1 Minutes Whakatāne District Sister Cities Association 24 October 2018 (Cont.) RESOLVED: THAT the Kamagaya report be received. Harison/Wilson CARRIED Attendance: the Trident High School students left the meeting at 4.36 pm 6. SHIBUKAWA Refer to page 12 of the agenda. Ms Samal advised that they had reduced the numbers of the Shibukawa visit in December 2019 to 10 students and 3 adults. Liaison would continue with City Hall staff towards the organisation of the visit. RESOLVED: THAT the Shibukawa report be received. Samal/Jukes CARRIED 7. SISTER CITIES NEW ZEALAND Refer to page 14 of the agenda. The annual conference information as noted. 8. STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP RESOLVED: THAT the Student Scholarship application be received; and THAT Aidan Donald be offered the 2018 Student Scholarship to Kamagaya. Iles/Wilson CARRIED 9. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP RESOLVED: THAT the Aidan Donald be appointed as a Youth Representative to the Whakatane District Sister Cities Association. Iles/Harison CARRIED 7 WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 Whakatane District Sister Cities Committee - AGENDA 6 Kamagaya THE MEETING CLOSED AT 4.42 PM Confirmed this day of CHAIRPERSON 6 Kamagaya 6.1 Aidan Donald - 2018 Student Scholarship Report 8 WHAKATĀNE DISTRICT COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2019 Whakatane District Sister Cities Committee - AGENDA 6.1 Aidan Donald - 2018 Student Scholarship Report (Cont.) Japan Study Visit Report – Aidan Donald Nihon No Kengaku No Repōto Introduction In November the Whakatane Sister Cities Committee kindly awarded me a $1,500 scholarship to visit Japan on a 2 week-long trip. During this trip, I was hosted by families in both the city of Kamagaya, Chiba prefecture, and Shibukawa in the Gunma prefecture Kamagaya 鎌ヶ谷市 Kamagaya is a city of 109,000 people located in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture, and it is about an hour’s train ride from