IT'S taken 10 years of hard work to get to this point and there have been hurdles along the way.
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In 2008 the Wuai Group made serious moves on the trade centre but a "terrible misunderstanding" meant to deal went cold.
It was a decade ago when member for Wagga Daryl Maguire first started building relationships with the Chinese developers who were looking to expand their business to Australia.
Since then Mr Maguire estimates he's done 15 self-funded trips to China.
In the last three years he's made eight trips to discuss the proposal, including five times this year alone.
"These developments just don't come about because of the dollars, these come about because of relationships and trust," he said.
Key Wagga business people have attended at various times, including Rundles Auctions managing director Richard Allsopp and D&M Electrical Communications director, Shaun Duffy.
In 2011 Wagga City Councillor Alan Brown joined a trip to see first-hand how these trade centres operate.
"What I saw was the actual Wuai Market (which the Wagga proposal is modelled on) and how it started. We had a meeting with the management," he said.
"We wanted to understand how they work, how they function, how they collect their money."
In May this year council's general manager Phil Pinyon and then mayor, Kerry Pascoe travelled over.
They were joined by Wagga Business Chamber president Julian McLaren.
"There were business meetings where we'd talk to each other … (they) would explain what they do and the Chinese government does," Mr McLaren said.
"We were there to show support and that Wagga showed support."
There is a sense now that it's make or break time, and council doesn't want to let this slip by.
In the 10 years since this was first raised there have been four different mayors and four general managers at council.
Mr Maguire said the deal came close four years ago but it didn't progress.
"What happened was I think there was a terrible misunderstanding about what agreeing to a concept is and approval for a plan … and it all went cold," Mr Maguire said.
The recurring theme from those involved in the discussions is that the cultural divides in how to do business have been a learning curve which yesterday's signing of a memorandum of understanding helps to overcome.
