Yunnan Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

Yancheng is facing Japan and South Korea across the sea, with profound historical and cultural origins and long-term friendly exchanges. As an important node city connecting the "Belt and Road" with Northeast Asia, a central city in the Yangtze River Delta and a port city for the outflow of the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt, Yancheng is industrially vigorous and dynamic. At present, it has become an important window for Jiangsu Province's economic and trade cooperation with Japan and South Korea. On October 16, the 26th China-Japan-South Korea Friendly Cities Exchange Conference was held in Yancheng, Jiangsu. Centering on the theme of the conference "Local cooperation for win-win results, openness and inclusiveness for development", local governments, economic and trade institutions and representatives from all walks of life in the three countries gathered to discuss a new picture of cooperation.

Shinjiro Hirai, Governor of鸟取县, Japan

Ambassador Park Sun-jae, International Relations Ambassador of Gwangju广域市, South Korea

Ryūgo Watanabe, Mayor of Suzhou City, Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Choi Byung-hwan, Deputy Mayor of Daejeon City, North Chungcheong Province, South Korea

Vice President of Liaoning Provincial Committee of Friendship with Foreign Countries, Jia Gui-fen

Wang Yu, Vice President of the Yunnan Provincial Association for Friends of Foreign Countries: Deepening people-to-people exchanges to consolidate the popular foundation for " hearts to hearts"

Q: In recent years, the China-Japan-South Korea友好 Cities Conference has become an important platform for local exchanges among the three countries. Please talk about what role the local friendship association can play in promoting urban cooperation?

A: The greatest advantage of the Local Friends Association lies in its flexibility, comprehensiveness and profound people-oriented nature. It mainly plays a good role in the following four bridges: bridge of people-to-people exchanges, bridge of pragmatic cooperation, bridge of people-to-people exchanges, and bridge of youth friendship. Specifically, the Friends Association is committed to weaving and consolidating the network of friendly cities. We encourage establishing exchange relations with the corresponding units in Japan and South Korea from the provincial, municipal to the county level, and even from the community, school, enterprise and other levels, forming a "point-line面" combined exchange network, greatly expanding the breadth and depth of cooperation.

Q: What are the specific practices of the friendship association in enhancing public sentiment?

A: Deepening people-to-people exchanges and laying a solid foundation for "heart-to-heart" understanding. We often say that "the relationship between countries lies in the friendship between the people". The China-Japan Association for Friendship has been continuously exerting efforts in this regard. Taking Yunnan as an example, we have tapped into the unique local cultural resources and created cultural brands such as "Love Yunnan", "Heart to Heart, Yunnan Journey", "Festival of Cross-border People", "International Youth Exchange Week", and "Yunnan: A Friend called友好 City", through photo exhibitions, cultural exchanges, and other activities, telling China's story in a softer and more lasting way. At the same time, we place special emphasis on youth exchanges. Since 2015, we have established a youth mutual visit mechanism with relevant places in Japan and South Korea, and nearly 35 batches of more than a thousand young people have participated. They are the hope for the future friendship among the three countries.

Q: How can these friendly feelings be translated into development results that benefit all parties?

A: This involves how to turn friendly relations into development results that benefit everyone. Work on friendly city-to-city cooperation should focus on the needs of local economic and social development, and actively promote practical cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, science and technology, tourism, etc. For example, Yunnan has made use of large-scale exhibition platforms to hold industry matching, enterprise negotiations and other activities, creating opportunities for enterprises from the three countries. During the South China Fair this year, we held the "Yunnan International Friendly City Cooperation Week", with about 210 Chinese and foreign guests from 20 countries attending the event. During this period, 18 cooperation documents were signed, with a total amount of 103 million. On the day of signing, the cold chain truck loaded with flowers set off from Kunming to Astana. We also share green development experience through friendly city activities, strive to turn consensus into specific projects and concrete results, and ultimately benefit the people and achieve win-win results.

Q: What are the considerations for the mechanism construction to ensure that the cooperation can be promoted in a long-term and stable manner?

A: Take the initiative to build platforms to enhance the capacity for "sustainable" development. We encourage and guide the participation of diverse subjects such as enterprises, universities, research institutions, and social organizations in the "big friendly city" work pattern. At the same time, the China-France-Germany Association itself is also continuously strengthening capacity building, improving the professional capacity of work, perfecting the tracking service and effectiveness evaluation mechanism of projects, so as to ensure that trilateral city cooperation can be carried out in a long-term, stable and efficient manner, and continuously deepened.