The Signing Ceremony of Friendly Cooperation, an event of the 6th China (Zhijiang) International Peace Culture Festival, was held on September 5.

Witnessed by Chinese and foreign attendees, three cooperation documents were signed at the ceremony, namely, a letter of intent to establish a friendship city relationship between Huaihua's Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County in Hunan, and Nong Khai Town of Nong Khai Province in Thailand; a letter of intent to set up a friendship city relationship between Huaihua's Yuanling County in Hunan, and Mulanje Town in Malawi; and, a cooperation agreement to foster friendly relations between the First Middle School of Zhijiang Dong Autonomous County and the First Middle School of Kirovsk Town in Russia.

Signing Ceremony of Friendly Cooperation. (Photo/Fu Cong)

Friendship city relations are important bridges for enhancing inter-city and regional exchanges and cooperation around the world, while friendship schools play a significant role in friendly exchanges and collaboration.

As a crucial port city on the border between Thailand and Laos, Nong Khai Town and Zhijiang have complementary advantages in such fields as cross-border tourism. Yuanling County and Malawi's Mulanje Town plan to collaborate in agricultural technology and mineral resource development, among other fields. Meanwhile, the First Middle School of Zhijiang and its counterpart in Kirovsk Town have agreed to carry out exchange visits of faculty and students.

"The friendly relations between Zhijiang, Yuanling, the Zhijiang First Middle School and their international partners are expected to ignite brilliant cooperation across multiple fields such as culture, education, economy and trade," said Wang Liwen, deputy chairperson of the Hunan People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

Hunan now has 120 international friendship city relationships, which have played a positive role in serving China's overall diplomatic deployment as well as Hunan's open development, she added.

Zhijiang is a historically significant place where the Chinese people accepted the surrender of the Japanese invaders in 1945. In recent years, Zhijiang has leveraged its peace culture resources to develop a "peace culture plus" model for international association. In 2021, Zhijiang was approved as the 307th International City of Peace. Since 2003, it has hosted five sessions of the International Peace Culture Festival. Through the platform of the Peace Culture Festival, Zhijiang has established cooperation and exchanges with three international friendship cities—Grandcamp-maisy, France; Pinhurst, U.S.A; and, Kirovsky, Russia.