Ｃｈｉｎａ Ｉｎｔｅｒｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ Ｃｉｔｉｅｓ Ｃｏｎｆｅｒｅｎｃｅ Ｈｅｌｄ ｉｎ Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ

With the theme of “A Harmonious World: Enjoying Friendship， Furthering Cooperation， Building Peace， Seeking Development Together”， the China International Friendship Cities Conference convened in Beijing from November 8 to 9， 2008. It was co-sponsored by the CPAFFC and the China International Friendship Cities Association (CIFCA). About 500 representatives from provincial， regional and municipal governments in China， and over 70 provinces， states and cities in 34 countries as well as leaders of foreign local governments and sister cities organizations participated in the conference. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech entitled “Enhancing Exchanges and Cooperation between International Friendship Cities to Promote Friendship among the People of the World”. Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong， CPAFFC President Chen Haosu， Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei， among others， also attended the opening ceremony， over which CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin presided.

Vice President Xi Jinping said in his speech that the Chinese Government attaches great importance to and supports international friendship-city activities and expects to work continuously to raise to a new level China’s friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation with all cities in the world. He put forward three principles for strengthening cooperation under the new circumstances: “The principles of stressing friendship， mutual benefit and practical results.” (See full text of the speech on p.4)

In his speech， CPAFFC President Chen Haosu reviewed the development of international friendship cities in China. He pointed out that China’s friendship-city activities have become an important platform for opening up to the outside world， an important carrier of city diplomacy， and an important aspect of people-to-people diplomacy. (Full text of the speech on p.6)

Also speaking at the opening ceremony were Isao Uzaki， vice mayor of Kobe of Japan; Nancy Huppert， honorary board member of Sister Cities International of the United States; Sergey Paramonov， executive vice president of the Russian Twin Cities International Association; Galal M. Said， governor of Faiyum of Egypt; and Hanson Mataskelekele， wife of the president of Vanuatu and president of Vanuatu-China Friendship Association.

The 50 Chinese and foreign participants speaking at the conference focused on pushing forward exchanges and cooperation between international friendship cities. They held that in the new 21st century， practical cooperation between local governments and cities should be strengthened， which is conducive to all countries revitalizing their economies and carrying forward their social and cultural undertakings along the road of development they have chosen. They analyzed the difficulties and the problems in the exchanges， and emphasized that they would overcome difficulties and make progress by increasing personnel and bilateral exchanges and carrying out practical cooperation. In their speeches， they stressed the necessity of conducting multilateral exchanges in the field of locality and city cooperation， especially holding influential multilateral cooperation forums.

The topic of city diplomacy drew participants’ attention at the Conference. They held that with the acceleration of the urbanization process， cooperation between cities would take an increasingly more important place in the world. International friendship-city activities have developed from bilateral to multilateral cooperation， exerting ever greater influence in the international organization of United Cities and Local Governments， which is the common development prospect for all countries.

The development of China’s international friendship cities was reviewed at the conference. From the first pair of international friendship cities twinned in 1973 till the two pairs signed at the current conference， all together 30 provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government and 327 cities in China have established 1，499 pairs of friendship-province/state or friendship-city relations with 350 states (provinces， prefectures and regions) and 1，070 cities in 120 countries in the world.

During the conference， the Chinese and Russian representatives held the Forum on Exchanges and Cooperation between Chinese and Russian Cities and Chinese and African participants held the Third Seminar on Cooperation between Chinese and African Local Governments. The CPAFFC and the CIFCA conferred the Friendship-City Exchange and Cooperation Award to 25 Chinese provinces， municipalities and cities and special award to the provinces of Gansu and Fujian.

A photo exhibition on China international friendship cities was mounted at the conference hall. More than 400 valuable photos showing the achievements of exchanges and cooperation in the economic， scientific and technological， cultural， personnel and other fields between the Chinese provinces and cities and their twinned counterparts in other countries.