Darwin council’s sister city relationships grow despite lockdown, says Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis

DARWIN council’s ties with Shenzhen, Haikou and other cities are on hold but Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis says ‘they will remember us’ when international travel starts.

Darwin Council Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis, right, with Haikou International Airport Group chairman Zhen Wang and Darwin Airport director of commercial and aviation development Shane de Wit in Haikou, China last year. Picture: Supplied

DARWIN council’s ties with Shenzhen, Haikou and other cities are on hold but Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis says “they will remember us” when international travel starts.

While coronavirus has kept Darwin council on home soil in 2020, Mr Vatskalis said his relationship with sister cities had nevertheless grown.

“We’ve had some communication with Haikou because we sent some equipment for them during the COVID-19 situation,” he said.

Mr Vatskalis said having Haikou as a sister city had brought many benefits that he hoped would continue.

“Haikou has been a sister city since 1986 and we haven't been there many times, I went there and re-established a very good relationship because there are many things in common – especially a tropical environment and tropical landscapes,” he said.

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Mr Vatskalis said supporting Darwin’s closest sister city, Dili, was also important for future proofing the connection.

“Dili is our closest sister city outside of Australia. Dili went through the coronavirus situation and came out really well (but) they need any support they can get,” he said.

“I’ve been approached by their ministers asking to provide support to establish a local government in Dili. This is the time to do it.”

Mr Vatskalis said by maintaining relationships now, the cities would support Darwin when they were able to do so.

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“We don’t have to visit Dili, we can communicate by teleconferencing but when things clear up they will know we still remember them, we are still supporting them so they can come here physically (when it’s over).

“We keep our distance at the moment but they know we don’t forget them, we still remember them.”