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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Chairman’s Report 2000

17th January 2001

Dear: President, The Lord Mayor of Bristol, Cllr. Graham Robertson, OBE

Officers

Executive Members, Members and Friends

Welcome to our Annual General meeting in this very special Millennium Year, I would like to takes this opportunity to express my very best wishes for the year 2001.

Bristol China Partnership celebrated our second anniversary at the Council House on the 27^th October 2000, members and friends in excess of hundred people, travelled from all over of the country to Bristol in order to celebrate this very special occasion.

The evening hosted by Our President, The Lord Mayor of Bristol Cllr., Graham Robertson, OBE, and The Lady Mayoress, Mrs Joyce Robertson, who were to introduce The Ambassador of The People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Mr Ma Zhengang and his wife, Madam Ma, and Professor Sir John Bering CBE, Dean of Faculty of Science at University of Bristol.

A traditional Chinese Lion Dance marked the beginning of the reception, which was followed by a delightful dinner prepared by the city council. To commemorate the anniversary, the Lord Mayor and Ambassador jointly cut the BCP birthday cake, which was kindly donated by Mountstevens Bakery.

The event turned out to be a great success and the level of positive response we received was overwhelming. As we look forward to the New Year, we aim to build on the progress we have achieved so far, and develop the relationship between Bristol and China even further.

The Bristol China Partnership was formed in 1998. During that time, Cllr. Paul Garland kindly asked me to assist in the development of the BCP, with written support from our City Leader Cllr. George Micklewright. Unfortunately Paul passed away 1999, but we will always remember him as a great person and visionary.

The Growth of the BCP has lead to the continued development of Bristol and Guangzhou becoming sister cities. Over the last two years, we have taken part in a number of delegations:

 

• September 11^th 1998 – Civil Visit headed by Mr Shen Bai Nian, Vice Mayor of Guangzhou and Member of the Standing Committee of Guangzhou Municipal Government.

 

• September 2nd 1999 – Bristol City Council Visit headed by Mr Tang Shuming, Director of the International Relation Division Guangzhou International Foreign Affair Office.

 

• August 9th 2000 – Bristol’s Culture Delegation headed by Ms Su Jin-Zhong, Vice Chairman of Standing Committee of Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress. We visited the City Museum and Art Gallery with the help of Mr Stephen Price, the Head of Department and Miss Kate Newnham, Curator of Eastern Art and Culture, In addition to this we went on a guided tour around the Central Library, College Green, "@Bristol" IMAX Wildscreen & Explore. In the evening we held a dinner reception at the Bristol Mansion House, which was hosted by the Lord Mayor.

 

• August 22nd 2000 – Science and Education Delegation headed by Mr Zhuo Zhaoyan, Deputy Secretary Gerenal Guangzhou Municipal Government, We had visited the University of Bristol, with the help of Mr Timothy Jones, Director of International Affairs, and the University of the South of West England, with the help of Professor Steve Hoddell, Assistant Vice Chancellor, and Professor Chris Irgens, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. We have also fortunate enough to have a tour around the facilities, and sit in on various lectures ranging from Intelligent Autonomous Systems and Robots, to High Performance Machining.

 

• November 9^th 2000 – British Aerospace Visit headed by Mr Zhu Zhenzhong, Honorary President of Guangzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. We Visited British Aerospace in Filton, with the help of Mr Wallace Kwong and Phil Swanson of BAE systems.

 

• October 1^st 2000 – Metropolis Seminar I was invited by the Mayor of Guangzhou to attend the Metropolis Seminar in Guangzhou. I was also extremely fortunate to participate in delegations where I attended meeting with 16 Mayors and over a hundred invited speakers and attendees including those from Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow, Los Angeles, Beirut, Ho Chi Minh, Seoul, Abidjan, Manila, etc,

The City of Guangzhou covers 7,434 square kilometres, with a total population of 7.5 million. With China's entry into the WTO, Guangzhou will be more closely connected with the whole world and hopefully; this will be the key to unlock its commercial potential.

Bristol has a lot to offer. In fact, you could say the two cities are in parallel with each other. Since, the 18th Century, there has been a well-established trading relationship between the two cities.

I hope the "Bristol China Partnership" will provide a platform for promoting further exchanges like Education, Culture, Business and Tourism, and also a basis to develop a close friendships and understanding.

To mark our progress, the Chinese Central Government in Beijing has signed its approval concerning the Guangzhou Government’s sister-ship with Bristol City Council. To conclude matters, the Mayor of Guangzhou is planning to visit Bristol in May, (to be confirm) to sign this agreement, and commemorate this truly historic occasion.

Finally I’m on behalf of the BCP. I wish to express sincere thanks to the Lord Mayor of Bristol, Cllr. Graham Robertson, OBE and the Lady Mayoress, Mrs Joyce Robertson; the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, his Excellency Mr Ma Zhengang and Madam Ma. Mr John Hughes of Mail Marketing Group, Colin Turner, our Patron, The Leader of the Bristol City Council, Mr George Micklewright, all the Councillors, our local MPs, our sponsors and all the members we have involved during the year.

I look forward to all your continued efforts, and am anticipating the challenge that lies ahead.

Yours sincerely

Kam Wong

Chairman

Bristol China Partnership

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