CITY SIGNS MoU WITH CITY OF JINHUA, CHINA
As part of enhancing exciting opportunities for the people of the Metro, Buffalo City Metropolitan Executive Mayor Cllr. Princess Faku together with the City's Mayoral Committee members and Buffalo City Metropolitan Development Agency (BCMDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Head of Delegation City of Jinhua, Chongile Zhu to strengthen relations between the two cities and to improve the economic state of the City.

Giving her welcoming remarks at the meeting, Mayor said: “As BCMM, we have established a number of historic partnerships with cities in China.”

“The partnership with the City of Jinhua goes far back as 1998. In 2000 the former King Williams Town Transitional Local Council established partnership with Jinhua City in Zhejiang Province. We have had a number of delegations visiting us from the City of Jinhua,” said Faku.

 

The mayor also highlighted that since 2017 the Metro has been participating in the Homestay project. The Project which aimed to amplify the friendship between its sister cities and to enrich the cultural exchange as well as to preserve the traditional, cultural, historical nature of its rural villages.

 

“BCMM has been supporting the programme and to date have sent at least 21 youth/student delegations to participate in the homestay programme, as we all know that the Zhejiang Normal University began to recruit short-term international students in China in the 1980s. It is our opportunity as BCMM to tap on this milestone and make it work for our City,” said Mayor.

 

Faku also asserted that the City has few university campuses and colleges. This entails that we have thousands of students who reside in our City and study at these institutions of Higher Education.

 

Princess also argues that students need job opportunities after graduating from these institutions. She further argues that the Metro is here to play its part in terms of creating those jobs and without partnerships like these, these opportunities are slim.

 

City Manager Mxolisi Yawa, East London Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) Simphiwe Kondlo, Head of Directorate (HOD) for Executive Support Service Ncumisa Sidukwana, HOD for Economic Development and Agencies Noludwe Ncokazi, General Manager (GM) for Communications, International Relations (IR), Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR) and Special Programmes Ondela Mahlangu and Development Cooperation and International Relations Manager Darby Gounden were also present at the meeting.

 

2024-04-04