Local foreign affairs are an integral part of our country's overall diplomacy, and international friendship cities are important platforms for local foreign affairs and important highlands for local opening up. On November 13, the 3rd International Sister Cities Conference with the theme of "deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and sharing development opportunities" was held in Shaoxing. More than 130 people, including officials from embassies and consulates in China and representatives of commercial organizations, representatives of honorary citizens in Shaoxing, and representatives of foreign-funded enterprises in Shaoxing, were invited to attend the conference. In addition, government or parliament leaders from 20 sister cities in 14 countries including Japan, Finland, Hungary, South Korea, and New Zealand participated in the conference through video connections.
Since 2016, the China Shaoxing International Sister Cities Conference has been successfully held twice, and a biennial conference system has been formed. In the previous two conferences, more than 450 delegations from 57 international sister cities were invited to participate in the conference, and 24 sister cities and cooperation projects in economy, trade, education and culture were signed on the spot. At present, Shaoxing's international sister cities are spread across five continents. It has established sister cities and friendly exchange relations with 54 cities in 27 countries, and signed friendly exchange memorandums with 34 foreign cities, the number of which is among the best in similar cities in the China.
In the Mayor’s Forum of this session, the mayor of Shaoxing City Sheng Yuechun and the mayors of five sister cities including Nishinomiya City in Japan, Pecs City in Hungary, and Taupo City in New Zealand discussed urban management and economics in the “post-epidemic era”. Development and international exchanges and other issues were discussed. In the project signing process, 1 sister city, 6 economic and trade, and 5 social undertaking cooperation projects were signed online and offline. Among them, Zhejiang Chunli Tea Co., Ltd. signed a 2,000-ton tea project with SOCIETE YEYEA KOUTAM ET FILS S.A.R.L of the Republic of Mali.
Mr. Huang Chunjun, chairman of Chunli Tea Co., Ltd, participated in the 3rd China Shaoxing International Sister Cities Conference. Witnessed by representatives of more than 50 countries, Chunli Tea Co., Ltd successfully signed a contract to export 2000 tons of tea to Mali.
The company’s production and sales strength has been recognized. With the influence of the Sister City Conference, the benefits of this contract have been amplified. Chunli Tea Co., Ltd. is fortunate to show the company’s strength in front of friends from all over the world, deepen everyone’s impression of the company, and help the company create a high-quality business card, and hope that the company can keep its mission in mind, not forget its original aspiration, and continue to expand its export business!
Finally, Shaoxing City and various international sister cities signed and released the "Shaoxing Initiative" online, reaching consensus on strengthening public health, economic, trade, science and technology, humanities mutual learning, people's livelihood improvement, and cooperation and exchange mechanisms.