News Share (April 1-30)

1. Xiamen establishes friendship with Santiago, Chile

Xiamen in East China's Fujian province and Santiago Metropolitan Region in Chile signed a letter of intent for friendly exchanges online on April 6, marking the official establishment of friendship between the two cities.

Huang Wenhui, mayor of Xiamen, said at the online signing ceremony that both cities, although far away from each other geographically, are renowned tourist destinations and hotbeds for innovation and entrepreneurship, which has created enormous space for cooperation.

According to Huang, the two sides have organized several online exchange activities since they came into contact in December 2020 to share experience in high-end technology, environmental protection and green transportation.

Claudio Orrego Larrain, governor of Santiago Metropolitan Region, expressed his hope that the two sides would hold more discussions on how to deal with climate change and strengthen the protection of water resources.

Diplomats from both countries agreed that the newly established friendship will further deepen the China-Chile partnership, and inject new momentum into South-South cooperation.

Chile was the first Latin American country to establish diplomatic relations with China. Santiago Metropolitan Region is the political, economic, cultural and transport center of the country. The region spans 15,400 square kilometers and has a population of 8 million. Both its population and GDP account for more than 40 percent of the country's total.

2. Xiamen, Nice to further cooperation

Xiamen in East China's Fujian province and the city of Nice in France held a video conference on April 20, to discuss practical exchanges and cooperation between the two metropolises.

Zhang Quan, director general of Xiamen foreign affairs office, participated. He and representatives of the French city reviewed joint cooperation in the fields of culture, education, tourism – and in commerce and trade – that has come from 40 years of friendly exchanges between the two.

They also discussed future exchanges in higher education and vocational education, the protection of cultural heritage, sports, commerce and trade, smart city construction, the film and television industry and art.

During the meeting, representatives from Xiamen University and Nice's Université Cote d'Azur held in-depth talks on such issues as building projects, disciplinary cooperation and teacher-student exchanges.

Xiamen and Nice established sister-city relations in 2014.

3. ANA delegation visits Xiamen foreign affairs office

Zhang Quan, director general of Xiamen foreign affairs office, on April 27 met with Kono Yasuhisa – new head of the Xiamen branch of Tokyo-headquartered All Nippon Airways Co Ltd – in Xiamen city, in East China's Fujian province.

Zhang extended a warm welcome to the Japanese delegation and briefed them on the latest economic and social development in Xiamen.

He expressed his wish that ANA would continue to advance China-Japan friendship – as well as further promote exchanges in commerce and trade, culture and youth between Xiamen, Fujian and Japan.

For his part, the Japanese executive thanked the Xiamen foreign affairs office for its long-term support for the development of ANA in the city.

In particular, he said that amid the COVID-19 pandemic the office had really helped foreigners there to apply for health codes and it had issued helpful multilingual notices on the municipal government's COVID-19 responses – providing convenience and confidence to foreigners working and living in Xiamen.

He added that ANA would continue to serve as a bridge for exchanges and cooperation between China and Japan.