Business bolsters Shanghai link with NZ little sister

"There are a lot of tangible outcomes in the relationship. Economically, some of our businesses are starting to do very well. We're just about to publicly release a deal that's been signed last month between a leading Dunedin business and a Shanghai business," said Reid.

The partnership was helping New Zealand businesses look beyond Shanghai.

Top 10 trading partners of the Chinese mainland

Top 10 investors to the Chinese mainland

"We've also now got and economic partnership with Qingdao (Shandong province), north of Shanghai. That's starting to flourish and that has come about from the Fisher & Paykel-Haier collaboration," she said, referring to the Chinese whiteware giant's takeover of the iconic New Zealand appliance maker in 2012.

"We've also got some opportunities developing in Chengdu (Sichuan province), so I certainly think that our relationship with Shanghai has been very positive for the city."

The friendship had been cemented with a Chinese garden that opened in Dunedin in 2008.

Although Dunedin has a population of just over 120,000 including an estimated student population of 25,000, according to the official Tourism Dunedin agency, the city was an ideal New Zealand match for China's biggest city, said Reid.

"There is a long-standing Chinese settlement in Dunedin that has come out of the gold rushes of the 1860s and some very old Chinese families here who are just part of the fabric of the city so there were some nice synergies in that way," she said.

"Our understanding is that even though Shanghai has over 70 sister-city relationships now that we would be in their top five, which does seem extraordinary, but the relationship has always been based on just developing an understanding of each other."

The coming Shanghai delegation had expressed particular interest in learning about environmental protection, air pollution and sustainability, said Reid.