If everything goes as per plan, a joint delegation including representatives of the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) and the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) may take off to Delta in April or May.
MCC Commissioner Dr K N Vijayaprakash told City Herald that the British Columbia Trade & Investment Services has sent a mail inviting the MCC delegation to Delta and thereby explore possibilities and launch development projects. “They sent an e-mail and also spoke to me over phone with regard to the twinning activities between Mangalore and Delta cities. They are keen on twinning their City with Mangalore. They have invited us to visit their City in the Spring. Initiating projects is more important than paying a reciprocal visit. However, we have got an invitation from the COD and we will take a decision regarding the visit soon,” he added.
KCCI President G Mohandas Prabhu said that they have plans to lead a delegation to the COD. “The main objective of visiting Delta will be to explore business possibilities. We would study the possibilities of making import and export tie-ups with Delta City,” he added.
In fact, Pratap Raju, Managing Director for Technology, Research and Innovation of the British Columbia Trade & Investment Services had sent an e-mail requesting the MCC to lead a business delegation including KCCI representatives to the British Columbia.
Prabhu said that so far the KCCI has not discussed about the joint delegation’s visit to Delta with the MCC officials. However, he said, “we have no problem in sending a joint delegation to Delta along with the MCC.”
Twinning of cities
COD Mayor Lois E Jackson speaking after signing the MoA with the MCC had expressed hopes of exchanging best practices and tapping the business potentials of both cities. She had termed the agreement as “a beginning of an economic relationship that can serve both the cities well.”
It is a fact that Managalore city will be benefited more through the twinning activities as Delta is a resource-rich province in British Columbia. Moreover, Delta is ideally located as a major transportation hub with convenient and efficient access for rail, shipping and has large highway network.
Officials of Delta were attracted towards Mangalore city after watching a presentation on Mangalore City and Development made by former Mayor M Shanker Bhat at Bangkok in 2009. Accordingly, the COD had chosen Mangalore for the twinning programme.
The COD had selected four Indian cities including Mangalore, Vishakha-patnam, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Mangalore City was one of the four cities in India, which were short-listed from 120 cities across the world by the British Columbia Trade and Cultural Development Foundation.
Mangalore has been chosen finally since the City has all infrastructure including sea port, international airport and railway stations. Further, advancement in the education sector too has attracted the attention of the Foundation.
The Foundation, which has offices in New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, is working with an obective of linking cities.