The City Government of Davao and Jinjiang City, Fujian in China celebrated the 5th year of their Sister City agreement at the Dusit Thani Hotel on Thursday.
Led by City Mayor Sebastian Duterte and Fujian Province Governor Zhao Long, the event was marked by the signing of several agreements on cooperation in commerce, trade, education, tourism and cultural exchange.
The leaders also signalled the revival of direct flights from Davao-Jinjiang and vice versa, which has been suspended the past three years due to the pandemic, starting October.
During the event, a Memorandum of Understanding on Deepening Friendly Exchanges Cooperation for more years of continued partnership were signed by leaders from Davao and Fujian. A cooperative agreement was also signed between the Mindanao Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Asia Pacific Cooperation Promotion.
The signing of two cooperative deals on education between Ateneo de Davao University and Quanzhou Vocational and Technical University and between Liming Vocational University and Davao Sino Industrial Park were led by Duterte, Quanzhou City Mayor Cai Zhansheng, and the Chinese Consulate in Davao.
Duterte, in his speech, called the relationship between Davao and Jinjiang a âshining exampleâ of how cities can work together to achieve shared development goals, especially in terms of cultural exchange and economic cooperation.
âOver the past five years, we have witnessed the positive impact of this partnership on various aspects of development,â said Duterte, referring to the various trade deals and people-to-people agreements between the cities.
The mayor reaffirmed the local governmentâs commitment to deepen mutual understanding with Jinjiang and to explore more venues for cooperation.
Governor Zhao reiterated Jinjiangâs and, by extension, Fujianâs commitment to the partnership and vowed for further cooperation in commerce, education, tourism, and agriculture. CIO
