Comment: Twinning link coup for Liverpool

Jun 4 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE links between Liverpool and Shanghai are well documented. And today this prized relationship between these twinned cities – which share so many common factors – enters a new phase.

For Liverpool is the only UK city outside London to have won a highly-prized place to exhibit at the world’s biggest business fair, taking place in China in 2010 – the World Expo at Shanghai.

In the so-called Business Olympics, Liverpool can safely be said to have secured a gold medal; landing a place at this coveted fair ahead of 100 other cities around the world.

And the rewards promise to be very rich indeed. Held once every five years, this World Expo will be visited by an incredible 70m people – many of whom will be looking for potential new investment opportunities.

If one has to speculate to accumulate, then the £1.5m Liverpool is planning to spend on the event should be repaid tenfold; the aim is to bring billions of pounds of Chinese funding into the city.

In the race to secure a space at the World Expo, Liverpool’s long-standing twinned-status with Shanghai cannot have harmed its bid one iota.

Indeed, the chairman of Liverpool-Shanghai Partnership Drummond Bone, vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool, says the decision illustrates neatly why it is important for cities to twin with one another.

He said Liverpool was encouraged to make this bid by Shanghai’s political leaders – and the outcome demonstrated how high China’s regard for the city really was.

It is a lesson in just how much political and commercial value these twinning partnerships really do offer. For when it came to agreeing which cities would be offered a coveted slot at the Shanghai event, one would have to conclude Liverpool has had a little extra help from its relatives. Nepotism, it is fair to say, has frequently played a role in business. In this case, the winner is Liverpool.