07 Mar, 2016

Busy Period of International Activity in Town Hall

A busy recent period of international engagements at Town Hall commenced last week with the hosting of the ceremony for the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur – French Legion of Honour.
Seven veterans were present to receive the honour, and the Right Honourable Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Defence of the French Republic and His Excellency, Mr Christophe Lecourtier,
Ambassador of France to Australia, were also in attendance. The German Consul also visited Town Hall last week and met with the Lord Mayor.

The largest delegations came from Adelaide’s Sister Cities Qingdao (China) and George Town (Malaysia) and helped build on what are already strong and rewarding relationships.

Highlights included a successful reception in Town Hall to welcome the Qingdao delegation and help connect them with local businesses.

A business seminar was also facilitated by City of Adelaide to focus on ways local organisations can look at trade and investment opportunities in Penang. This seminar follows Council’s recent
‘China Business Ready’ workshops that have been a huge success.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese said it had been an exceptionally productive period as Town Hall welcomed special friends from right across the globe.

“One of my great honours is to host guests from our sister cities like George Town and Qingdao and other visitors from a wide variety of nations,” said Martin.

“It’s also a personal goal of mine to help ‘internationalise’ the city, and this is also a goal of Adelaide City Council as we seek to grow as a city.

“In April I look forward to joining Premier Jay Weatherill as part of his Shandong delegation, where we will continue to build on the strong relationships we’ve formed in recent times.

“And this week, Councillor Sue Clearihan will head to our US sister city, Austin, where she will present Austin City Council with a piece of Aboriginal art titled Seven Sisters.” In exchange for the opal, City of Adelaide and the Art Gallery of South Australia worked together to source a very special gift for the City of Austin. The piece of artwork that was chosen was created by the Ken Collaborative (Ken Sisters). It was most recently on display in October at Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art.

Adelaide’s Sister City relationships date back more than 40 years, when Council entered an agreement with Christchurch, New Zealand. Find out more about our Sister City and Friendly City relationships here.

Matthew Halliwell