On May 18, Wu Guiying, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and secretary of the CPC Changsha Municipal Committee, met in Changsha with a delegation led by Osugi Sumiko, vice governor of Shiga Prefecture of Japan.

Secretary Wu Guiying welcomed the guests and briefed them on Changsha's economic and social development. She noted that in November last year, a delegation from Hunan Province visited Shiga Prefecture and participated in a series of activities celebrating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Hunan-Shiga friendship. The prosperous economic development of Shiga Prefecture and the warm friendship between the two peoples left an unforgettable impression on everyone. This meeting with the Shiga delegation again was very cordial. In 1983, Hunan and Shiga established friendship ties based upon the proximity of both of them to lakes (Dongting and Biwa). Since then, Changsha and Shiga have carried out multi-level and wide-ranging exchanges and cooperation, and their friendship has grown steadily. Changsha would like to take this visit as an opportunity to deepen practical cooperation with Shiga in such fields as economy, trade, healthcare, and cultural tourism, to strengthen synergy in machinery manufacturing and other industries, and to increase people-to-people interactions and youth exchanges, so as to make greater contributions to the sound development of China-Japan relations.

Osugi Sumiko thanked Changsha, Hunan for its warm reception. She said that Changsha and Shiga have joined hands and helped each other since the establishment of friendly relations and this friendship has become a valuable asset to Shiga. It is hoped that through this visit, the two sides can consolidate and expand their achievements in cooperation, conduct exchange visits and mutual learning in youth, education, industry, economy, trade, and other areas, and share win-win results, passing on the friendship from generation to generation.

Participants at the event also included Usui Masato, minister of culture of the Japanese Embassy in China; Wang Liwen, full-time vice president of the Hunan People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries; and, Changsha municipal leaders Zou Te and Gao Wenqi.

The photo above was taken by Yu Shaojie from Changsha Evening News.

Source: en.changsha.gov.cn