Fuzhou is ready to further deepen exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries, said Wu Xiande, the mayor of the capital city of Fujian province of China on Saturday.
“We have a lot of room for cooperation and complementarity with other countries,” he added.
The mayor was talking to a visiting delegation of foreign diplomats and journalists based in Beijing, Xiamen, and Guangzhou at a hotel in Fuzhou.
The delegation includes diplomats from Sri Lanka, Solomon Island, Fiji, Singapore, and Thailand and journalists from Bangladesh, Iran, Japan, Pakistan, Turkey, Germany, and China.
Wu Hangbo, special representative of the Chinese government on European Affairs, Wang Dongmei and Zhang Lan, vice presidents of China International Public Relations Association, and Huang Jianxiong, deputy mayor of Fuzhou attended the meeting, among others.
The mayor said Fuzhou is the nearest provincial capital city in mainland China to Taiwan. The planned Beijing-Taiwan Expressway and the Beijing-Taiwan High-speed Railway pass through Fuzhou. Every county in Taiwan has a Fuzhou Association.
He further said Fuzhou is well-connected with the rest of the world as more than 4.3 million Chinese from Fuzhou live in many countries. They are mainly distributed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Argentina.
He went on to say that Fuzhou has had very close exchanges with the countries along the Maritime Silk Road throughout history.
He mentioned that in recent years, as a strategic fulcrum city in the core area of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Fuzhou has continuously deepened cooperation with countries along the Maritime Silk Road in various fields such as sister cities, economy and trade, and culture, and achieved fruitful results.
“We are also actively promoting the development cooperation between the two sides in terms of sister cities, culture, tourism, economy, and trade,” he noted.
The mayor further mentioned that Fuzhou is vigorously inheriting and carrying forward the important concepts and major practices initiated by President Xi Jinping during his work in Fuzhou.
“We are deeply implementing strategies such as the core area of the Maritime Silk Road, the Fuzhou metropolitan area, and a strong provincial capital, and accelerating the construction of a modern international City,” he further added.
The mayor continued saying that every year, Fuzhou holds exhibitions and activities such as the Digital China Construction Summit, the Maritime Silk Road Expo, the Maritime Silk Road International Tourism Festival, and the International Fishery Expo.
“We invite diplomats, media friends, and guests from all over the world to come and experience the city’s long history, rich culture, fresh ecology, and development vitality,” he said.
The mayor hopes that diplomats, friends from the media, and distinguished guests from various countries will continue to help promote Fuzhou.
He is also optimistic that they will promote cooperation and exchanges and introduce the city to more foreign companies and friends to visit.
“I expect they will help promote cultural exchanges and economic and trade cooperation between Fuzhou and other countries,” he said.
Fuzhou is the capital of the Fujian Province of China, which currently governs six districts, one city, and six counties, with a total area of 12000 square kilometers and a permanent resident population of 8.42 million.
The coastal provincial capital is one of the greenest cities in China with the best air quality in China, and also the hot spring capital of China. It is also known as the city of thousands of gardens and great beauty.
Fuzhou is one of the first 14 coastal open port cities in China, located between the Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, facing Taiwan and closely connected with Southeast Asia.
