Fermanagh and Omagh District Council signs partnership agreement with Chinese city

24th October 2018

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Partnership with Huangshi 1

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council Chairman, Councillor Howard Thornton and Director of Regeneration and Planning, Alison McCullagh, were part of a delegation from Northern Ireland which attended the 4th UK-China Regional Leaders Summit held recently in Dalian, Peoples Republic of China.

Following the summit, the Fermanagh and Omagh representatives visited the city of Huangshi where the Chairman, Councillor Howard Thornton, signed a partnership agreement on behalf of the Council undertaking to explore opportunities for both the Fermanagh and Omagh district and Huangshi to work together in areas which would be mutually beneficial.

Speaking following the signing of the agreement, Councillor Thornton said,

“The partnership agreement which I signed on behalf of the Council sets out the broad principles for cooperation between our two areas and will form the basis for the development of a programme for further engagement.

Having visited the city of Huangshi, I am confident that the opportunity which this agreement presents can be extremely beneficial to our district in terms of investment, and the city representatives expressed a particular interest in future co-operation relating to tourism, agriculture, economic development, cultural and educational exchanges. Our two areas currently enjoy close co-operation through the work of the Confucius Institute at Ulster University with over 60 schools in the Council district registered with the programme.

Officials in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and Huangshi have been tasked with developing proposals for a detailed programme of activities to enable the principles of the partnership to be brought to fruition.”

Councillor Thornton conveyed his thanks to the officials in the Northern Ireland Bureau in Beijing and Dr Andrew McCormick, Director General, International Relations at the Executive Office for their assistance in the development of the partnership to date.