The council’s Changchun-Warrnambool Partnership: An Economic Development Demonstration Project took out the the economic development through partnerships and collaboration prize at the Economic Development Australia awards.

The project details how council has played a leadership role to leverage economic development outcomes with its sister city, Changchun, in China.

The winners were announced during a gala dinner at the National Economic Development Conference in Perth on October 6. 

Director of city growth Andrew Paton said the project attracted a lot of attention at the conference.

“One of the real selling points is how practical it is,” he said.

“It’s a demonstration project that is dealing with business to find new markets that otherwise wouldn’t exist for them. It’s a truly regional project.”

Mr Paton said businesses across the south-west had benefitted from the project – not just those in the Warrnambool municipality. 

“It’s reinforcing Warrnambool’s role as a leader,” he said.

He said the ‘China opportunity’ had been around for a long time.

“We need to get beyond the opportunity,” Mr Paton said.

“The China free trade agreement has been pitched, quite rightly, as a real opportunity, but we have to somehow find a way to get small to medium enterprises, in a practical sense, get product from here to the other side of the world.”

Mr Paton said livestock export and livestock genetics from Warrnambool to Changchun had created a lot of interest.

He said the relationship between the two cities had moved quickly.

“We are creating relationships across a lot of different areas,” Mr Paton said.

“While food and agriculture is one of the major opportunities, there are also education partnerships.” 

Mr Paton thanked the current councillors for supporting the project, which has benefited from financial assistance from the state government.