Cr Jennings, who was involved in the recent visit to Bathurst by a number of students from the city of Yangquan in China, hopes council will forge links with present and emerging world powers.

Cr Jennings has long been bullish about the opportunities presented by China, most notably travelling on a two-week, self-funded trip to the Asian giant in 2014 to promote Bathurst and study at CSU. 

He said Bathurst’s existing, long-standing sister city relationship with Ohkuma in Japan should remain and be enhanced, but he would like to see three other cities added in past, present and possible future superpowers.

The past superpower, he said, would be the United Kingdom, where Bathurst has been exploring a friendship with the Cotswolds town of Cirencester.

The Earl and Countess Bathurst, who live at Cirencester, visited Bathurst in 2015 and relations between the two communities have been growing stronger since.

The Cotswolds town plans to set up a fund to send a young person to Bathurst.

Cr Jennings said a sister city relationship with Yangquan in China would account for an emerging superpower and a relationship with a US city would account for a present superpower.

“It’s good, I think, to have that balance between English-speaking and non-English speaking,” he said.

“This would be a good way to stay connected with an ever-smaller and ever-changing world.”

Asked if the time and effort to extend the sister city program would be worth it, Cr Jennings said there were trade - as well as cultural - opportunities on offer and “if we don’t get involved, we will simply miss out on those markets”.

He said logs and grain were already being exported from Bathurst to China and CSU was also focusing on opportunities in the country.

He said it would be up to councillors to vote on a new sister city policy, but he said a new policy was overdue.