(Sister City Story) 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Local Government Cooperation and International Sister City Dialogue Opened in Fuzhou

China News Service, Fuzhou, October 17 (Reporter Yan Xu) The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Local Government Cooperation and International Sister City Dialogue opened in Fuzhou, Fujian on the 17th. More than 200 people attended the meeting, including representatives from China’s coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and representatives from local governments and friendly organizations from 24 countries, 11 provinces, states, and 23 cities.

This dialogue, with the theme of "Maritime Silk Road brings wisdom and development, sister cities integrate to promote win-win results", was co-sponsored by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Fujian Provincial People's Government.

Yang Wanming, President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said that there is broad space and great potential for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation among local governments in countries building the "Maritime Silk Road". The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries is willing to work with all parties to expand local exchanges, deepen blue cooperation, and strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

Linda Okru, Governor of the Greater Accra Province of Ghana, specially led the heads of cities and districts in the Greater Accra Province to participate in the meeting, hoping to directly connect with the Chinese local government and transform friendship into concrete cooperation projects. She hopes that this dialogue will open up friendly relations across the venue, create jobs, improve public services, activate local economies, and bring measurable and tangible benefits to the people of the two places.

"The construction of the '21st Century Maritime Silk Road' is a real development opportunity for Cambodia." Mao Thanin, Governor of Kampot Province in Cambodia, said that Kampot Province and Fujian Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone have signed a letter of intent to establish a sister city relationship, and an economic and trade matchmaking meeting will be held in Pingtan this time. They are willing to use sister city cooperation as a link and focus on marine economy to deepen cooperation with China in the fields of port industries, aquaculture, tourism, clean energy and other fields.

During the meeting, the guests had in-depth discussions and exchanges around four sub-topics: global governance initiatives and international local government cooperation, international sister cities and marine economic cooperation, industrial collaboration and park linkage development, cultural and tourism integrated development and city brand building.