Hunan Expands Its International Sister City Network to Accelerate Open Cooperation

On September 20, Changsha reported that Hunan has continued to expand its circle of friends in international sistercity cooperation, steadily deepening its opening up to the outside world. Foreign participants in related economic and trade activities said they hoped to strengthen industrial matchmaking and exchange and cooperation with Hunan in areas such as advanced manufacturing, the digital economy, agriculture, and culture and tourism. Reports show that since sistercity exchanges began in the 1980s, Hunan has established sistercity relationships with 120 cities in 47 countries and regions. In 1982, Changsha established a sistercity relationship with Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, which was also one of the earlier sistercity partnerships between China and an African country. In recent years, Hunan has leveraged its ties with sister cities in Africa to drive growth in trade with Africa and promote cooperation in agricultural technologies such as hybrid rice. At the same time, cooperation between Hunan and places such as Laos, Germany, Mexico, and Vanuatu has also expanded from government exchanges to multiple levels including business matchmaking, talent training, logistics and trade, and industrial cooperation. During this event, Hunan also completed nine sistercity cooperation signings, further expanding its international cooperation network.