AUSTIN, the United States, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Austin in U.S. state of Texas and Changsha in Hunan Province of China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Wednesday, focusing on exchanges and cooperation in science and culture.

At the MOU signing ceremony, Mayor of Austin Steve Adler said, "We are finding that our relationships with other cities that we have MOUs with, and relationships with, are more and more a guiding light in how we do the business of this city."

The mayor said that his city will continue to develop the relationships, "because that's who we are culturally as a city".

Jian Zhu, a senior official of Changsha, capital city of Hunan in central China, said he believed the cooperation between Changsha, one of innovation centers in China, and Austin which is emerging as a southern U.S. innovation center, has a promising future.

"Based on principles of mutual trust and respect, we can develop a win-win situation in scientific and cultural cooperation," Zhu said.

The MOU on cooperative relationship in technological development and cultural innovation was signed at the Austin-Changsha Connection Forum, which was co-hosted by the China Public Policy Center (CPPC) in the University of Texas at Austin and the U.S. China Innovation Alliance (UCIA) as part of 2019 U.S.-China Innovation and Investment Summit (UCIS).

The fourth UCIS, a three-day event, will officially kick off Thursday in Houston, Texas. Changsha participates in this year's summit as the honorary guest city.

David Firestein, founding executive director of the China Public Policy Center, said the center aims at promoting bilateral cooperation at different levels between the United States and China, including economic and investment cooperation as well as cultural exchanges.

Changsha, a city with a history of more than 3,000 years, is the most populous city of Hunan Province with more than 7 million residents.

Austin, the southernmost state capital in the contiguous United States, is the 11th most populous city in the country and the 4th most populous city in Texas. The city is the cultural and economic center of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical area, which has an estimated population of over 2 million.