Invited by the governments of Frankston in Australia and Hamilton in New Zealand, five members of a Wuxi friendly exchange delegation, led by Jiang Da, vice-chairman of the Wuxi municipal Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), went to visit Australia and New Zealand from November 25 to December 2, 2014.
During the visit, the delegation visited Frankston and received a warm welcome from Sandra Meyer, mayor of Frankston, and Peter Conley, secretary general of the government.
The delegation visited Peninsula of Monash University and Frankston High School, and discussed further cooperation on high school and middle school education, as well as student exchange programs.
They also visited the sculpture museum of Frankston and the waterfront “Wuxi footpath”. They discussed with the Frankston officials about further cooperation on culture and tourism development.
During the visit in New Zealand, the delegation visited the Hamilton government. Gordon Chesterman, deputy mayor of Hamilton, and Senator Yang Yuming met the delegation.
Jiang Da introduced Wuxi's new achievements on opening-up and modernization construction. Jiang expected to boost communication and cooperation on economy and trade, culture, education, agricultural and livestock enterprises.
The delegation visited the Gallagher Company and learned about the import business on fasteners and porcelain insulators from Wuxi.
In addition, they visited Moira House Girls School in Hamilton, talked about the mutual communication and visiting program among teachers and students, and reached some agreements.
The delegation also visited the "Chinese Garden" designed by Li Zheng, a master of landscape architecture in Wuxi, with Fan Miao, president of the Hamilton branch of the New Zealand-China Friendship Association. They had a friendly negotiation on developing communication activities between the two cities.