Beijing will sign a sister-city agreement with Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, to boost cooperation in areas such as culture, healthcare, education, tourism and sports.

The Foreign Affairs Office of Beijing said on Thursday that Mayor Wang Anshun will sign the agreement in the Czech capital with his counterpart Adriana Krnacova later this month. The Prague Assembly last month approved the signing of a partnership agreement with Beijing by a majority of 35 votes in the 65-member assembly, even though opposition parties disagreed, the Czech news agency, eské Noviny reported.

Krnacova said that both cities will organize various types of exchanges and cooperation aimed to ensure mutual development and prosperity under the principles of reciprocity and mutual contribution.

Beijing, with a growing presence as a center for international exchanges, has 50 sister cities in 45 countries, according to Zhao Huimin, the office's director.

More than 285,000 Chinese tourists visited the Czech Republic last year, an increase of more than 10 percent year-on-year. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development will help Prague review Chinese-language promotion materials for the city and make logos in Mandarin for tourism sites in Prague, according to the office.

The two capitals started official exchanges in 1956 and have achieved progress in bilateral trade and cooperation in healthcare, cultural exchanges and tourism promotion since 2014 when Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek visited China.

Recent years have seen ties growing deeper. Over the past two years, Beijing dispatched two high-ranking delegations of officials and entrepreneurs to attend the China Investment Forum in Prague and in December 2015, the Beijing Tongrentang Group Co Ltd opened a traditional Chinese medicine clinic in Prague.

In October 2014, Karel Pech, chairman and founder of the Czech-Chinese Friendship Association, visited a pharmacy owned by Tongrentang Group in downtown Beijing and saw first-hand how TCM doctors treated patients.

Dr. MAX, one of the largest pharmacy chains in Central Europe, has more than 500 pharmacies serving 130,000 customers daily. The company signed a cooperation agreement with Tongrentang in December 2014, according to the Beijing People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. One year later, the clinic was established.

The association said the Czech Republic views TCM favorably and agreed to reimburse payments for TCM treatments in the country in line with its medical insurance.