Beijing Widens Cooperation with Friendship CitiesBeijing and Canberra, the capital of Australia, have become friendship cities on September 14, with a view to strengthening their cooperation in such areas as trade, economy, environmental protection, tourism and education.So far, Beijing has established friendship-city ties with 27 cities in 24 countries, while maintaining good relations with more than 100 cities in the world. Liu Qi, mayor of Beijing, said that facing the new century, the Chinese capital is willing to establish such ties with more cities worldwide, so as to enhance governmental and people-to-people exchanges between sister cities for common development. Beijing established its first sister-city ties with Tokyo, the capital of Japan, in March 1979, the second year after China introduced the policy of reform and opening up. By the end of 1980s, Beijing had established friendship-city ties with New York, Belgrade, Lima, Washington, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Cologne. In the 1990s, Beijing forged friendship-city ties with another 17 foreign cities, including Ankara, Cairo, Islamabad, Jakarta, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Seoul, Kiev, Berlin, Brussels, Hanoi, Amsterdam, Moscow, Paris, Rome and Ottawa. In addition, 18 districts and counties of Beijing have also developed friendly relations with 50 foreign counterparts. Over the past two decades and more, Beijing and its friendship cities have had frequent inter-governmental exchanges, and their friendly cooperation have expanded to various sectors including economy, science and technology, education, culture, health and sports. In September 1997, Beijing held a "Music Week for Friendship Cities," where over 50 musicians from Berlin, Paris, Moscow, Hanoi, Brussels and other cities staged performance to Chinese audiences. Beijing and Tokyo have so far organized "the Beijing-Tokyo Urban Symposium" 11 times. During the gatherings, officials, experts and scholars from both sides have conducted in-depth discussions on such issues as urban construction, administration and population management. An official in charge of sister-city relations between Beijing and foreign cities said he believes that the "2000 China International Friendship Cities Conference", expected to be convened in Beijing later this month, will provide new opportunities for expanding cooperation between Beijing and its friendship cities. |
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