Lunch with the new mayor of Changping

Enjoyed a very pleasant luncheon Tuesday with the Changping delegation in town for the day. Though I hadn’t met most of the delegation previously it was, in a sense, a chance to renew acquaintances with our “friendly city.” As you may know, Changping is a district of Beijing, and we signed an agreement with them in 2005 to foster business relationships.

I was there on behalf of the chamber of commerce this time, but the new Changping mayor, Guan Chenghua, was well aware of the history of the agreement between Kamloops and Changping. During lunch I had an opportunity to talk with him at some length, and he’s an articulate, intelligent, charming man.

Though progress in developing business opportunities via the city-to-city agreement has slowed in the past couple of years, there’s a determination to get things moving toward facilitating connections between Kamloops and Changping business people.

There’s a small cultural component to the relationship, but primarily it’s about business, and there are plenty of opportunities in that respect. For example, while Kamloops has a very respectable high-tech sector, Changping is light years ahead of us, with an amazing science park, incubator programs and much else. We can learn much from them.

I gained the impression that Mayor Guan wants to diversify the Changping economy, including manufacturing, and that’s one of our real strengths. (We have some 120 local fabricating and manufacturing companies.)

Guan has only headed the Changping government for three years, and a meeting with our own new mayor Peter Milobar was worthwhile. In the long term, of course, we have to move away from delegations to direct business-to-business relationships.

Kudos, by the way, to Anita Grover of Venture Kamloops, who did most of the work on arrangements for the visit.