On May 10, Shunde Polytechnic (SDPT) and New Zealand Otago Polytechnic signed a memorandum of understanding to further deepen the partnership between the two institutes. The signing ceremony held at SDPT Administrative Building was attended by Dunedin City Council CEO Dr Sue Bidrose,deputy director of Shunde District Bureau of Culture and Sports Ou Weizhong and SDPT vice president Tan Qianzhang and master chef Li Yongtai.

Dr Sue Bidrose and Mr. Ou extended on the meeting their congratulations to the MOU signing and the concrete progress of the partnership. Both sides expressed confidence towards the implementation of the MOU in the area of professional culinary training.

Dunedin and Shunde are both members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and have been titled "literary capital" and "gourmet capital" respectively. During a visit to Shunde at the end of 2016, Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull highly praised Shunde's urban development and cuisine, as well as the culinary arts training model of SDPT. After back to Dunedin, the Mayor actively promoted the exchanges and cooperation between Otago Polytechnic and SDPT in the field of personnel training, which eventually led to several in-depth and friendly talks and the signing of MOU.