First benefits of the recent Tauranga City Council-sponsored trade delegation to the sister cities of Hitachi and Yantai can be sampled at Takara Japanese Restaurant on The Strand.

Hitachi made sake is on sale after restaurant owners Kim and Rachel Yoo accompanied the April trade delegation to Hitachi and Ansan in South Korea.

Rachel Yoo and the Hitachi sake.

She bought the Hitachi sake because it is good quality and to enrich the sister city relationship, says Rachel.

The delegation, including representatives from Export NZ BOP, Port of Tauranga, the Coastal Marine Field Station, Priority One, Education Tauranga, Tourism BOP, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, University of Waikato and Tauranga City Council, spent two weeks in Asia in early April.

The group's strong focus on strengthening business, education and tourism linkages with Tauranga's sister cities Yantai in China and Hitachi in Japan resulted in several initiatives that will be followed up before the next delegation visits from Asia later this year.

Waikato University Professor of coastal marine sciences, Chris Battershill, says a new coastal biotechnology research centre with bases in both Tauranga and China will be established by the University of Waikato and Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The China-New Zealand Coastal Biotechnology Joint Research Centre will focus on bio-medicinal and agrichemical discovery and development, aquaculture and environmental bioremediation and restoration, says Chris.

The Yantai Institute of Ocean Resources and the University of Waikato are both world leaders in the area of marine-based research.

Yantai University, the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and the University of Waikato have also signed up to establish a four-year degree course consisting of two years at Yantai University, a year at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and a final year to complete a Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Waikato in Tauranga.

The University of Waikato's Te Piringa - Faculty of Law signed a letter of intent with the School of Law at China's Yantai University to enable the two institutions to explore opportunities for cooperation. The agreement also opens the door for students to study at each other's law school.

Education Tauranga held meetings with Yantai education agents and reached agreement to host the Chinese agents in Tauranga for a reciprocal visit in July. China is New Zealand's largest market for international students, which is the country's fifth largest export sector.

Tauranga and Western Bay food and beverages like wine, honey, avocado oils, health products and snack foods were promoted at Zhen Hua supermarket in Yantai, where they attracted a lot of interest from shoppers and the supermarket itself. There's potential for a Tauranga stand at the supermarket which consists of a chain of 36 markets.

In Ansan the delegation undertook initial discussions on opportunities for short stay education exchanges through Education Tauranga, and the development of a relationship between the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, the Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Waikato's Tauranga-based Coastal Marine Field Station.