Trade boost

As a result, trade and investment moving between Jinan and its sister cities have grown considerably.

In the past five years, Jinan has sent nearly 100 delegations to sister cities, where local companies have signed cooperative project agreements with their foreign counterparts. These have included Japan's NEC, Australia's Commonwealth Bank and Sweden's Volvo Construction Equipment Co, and have been worth more than $10 billion in investment.

This year alone, Jinan delegates visited sister cities in Israel, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Austria and Switzerland and signed 14 investment agreements, worth of $2.3 billion.

Around the same time period, sister cities have held at least 80 trade fairs and conferences in Jinan.

They have also provided training opportunities for Jinan, which has sent 500 people to Canada, Russia, Japan and Australia to study human resources, and police and civil servant affairs.

Job fairs in the sister cities have resulted in 400 high-caliber professionals coming to work in Jinan.

Jinan's cultural events have included an International Children's Festival for five years running, which has brought in more than 700 children from around the globe.

Jinan has also held photo exhibits to give its image as a "city of springs" a boost internationally, such as one exhibition held in conjunction with the 2011 Jinan International Sister Cities Cultural Exchange Forum, last month.

Even Jinan's schools have been involved, opening friendly ties with schools in the US, Canada, France, Finland, Japan and South Korea and holding regular exchange to promote cultural and educational communication.

But, the city is not stopping there, and its officials have been expecting more cooperation in the future.

Qi Jianzhong, the vice-mayor of Jinan, said that, over the next five years, Jinan will try to establish relations with more cities in Latin America, Oceania and Africa.

Qi explained that, of its 19 sister cities, eight are in Britain and Europe, such as Coventry, England, Nizhni Novgorod, in Russia and Rennes, France; three, in the Americas, including Sacramento, California, US, and Porto Velho, Brazil; two in Oceania; five in Asia; and one in Africa.

By Zhao Ruixue (China Daily)

(China Daily 11/30/2011 page24)