On November 28, the Thirteenth Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Hunan Provincial People's Congress held group discussions on the report of the People's Government of Hunan Province on the work of Hunan's international friendship cities. Up to now, Hunan has established 110 International Friendship City partnerships, including 31 at the provincial level, 66 at the city level, and 13 at the county level, ranking 8th in China. Since 2018, 30 new pairs of international friendship cities have been established, averaging one pair every 2.8 months.

The work of international friendship cities is an important driving force of national diplomacy, an important part of people-to-people diplomacy, and one of the main channels of foreign exchanges for Hunan Province. In recent years, Hunan has been serving the overall diplomacy of the Party and the country. In June last year, it signed a provincial-level friendship city agreement with Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. Hybrid rice from Hunan has been successfully cultivated in Barbados, marking a significant breakthrough in local rice cultivation.

Hunan has strengthened the overall coordination and planning of the work of friendship cities, giving full play to its characteristics and advantages. It has formulated and implemented the "Thirty-six Policies" for Hunan's people-to-people external exchanges, deepening its global engagement in six areas: resources, mechanisms, goals, content, strength, and support.

The work of international friendship cities helps boost Hunan's high-quality economic and social development. Over the past 10 years, since the "Belt and Road" Initiative (BRI) was firstly put forward, Hunan Province has established friendships with 56 cities in 27 countries along the route, contributing to Hunan's opening up to the world.

Hunan has nurtured human resources in its friendship cities, building a key network of overseas Chinese as well as international friends, fostering hometown connections and maintaining the emotional ties.

The efforts involving international friendship cities have also enhanced Hunan's international influence and popularity. The Hunan TV International has cooperated with Ghana CGTV to establish the Ghana "GMTV" channel, which reaches 23 countries in West and Central Africa, serving a population of nearly 500 million.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn