On the morning of September 24th, Mr. Wang Dongming, Secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC, in Chengdu met Mr. Deniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria of Australia. One day earlier, Sichuan and Victoria of Australia had officially established sister province relationship. Mr. Yin Li, Vice Secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC and Governor of Sichuan Provincial People's Government, and Mr. Deniel Andrews signed contracts on behalf of Sichuan and Victoria of Australia.
During the meeting, Mr. Wang Dongming said that recent years had witnessed the sound and healthy development in the relationship between Australia and China which provided major opportunities for strengthening regional exchanges and cooperation. Yesterday, Sichuan and Victoria had officially established sister province relationship and signed a series of cooperative agreements in trade, culture, education, hygiene and so on, meaning a new level in the relationship between Sichuan and Victoria. Sichuan was a powerful and influential province in Western China in economy, population, resources, and education, embraced with key opportunities including Western China Development, “One Belt and One Road” and comprehensive reform pilot zone and free trade zone. While Victoria had advanced industries, agriculture and husbandry as well as forefront economic scale in Australia. He hoped that by joint efforts, both sides could implement these cooperative agreements and promote more fruitful achievements in all fields.
Mr. Wang Dongming also proposed three suggestions on promoting mutual exchanges and cooperation. First, we should intensify government cooperation, improve regular communication and negotiation mechanism, and strengthen exchanges and visits. Second, we should highlight on cooperation in trade and investment, explore to establish cooperation platforms, improve cooperation in electronic information, equipment manufacturing, automobile industry and so on, and promote the win-win situation between mutual companies, especially small and medium-sized companies. Third, we should strengthen cooperation in fields including education, technology, culture, especially tourism, promote mutually tourism project, products, and routes, and encourage more citizens to travel to the other part.
Mr. Deniel Andrews indicated that he was quite pleased to have a second inspection in beautiful Sichuan. He said that Sichuan, as one of the most vigorous provinces in China, had beautiful natural scenery and rich history. Victoria was one of the regions with the most rapid economic development in Australia. It really matched when Sichuan and Victoria established sister provinces. He was quite proud to establish sister province relationship with Sichuan, a vibrant and prosperous province. He believed that with the deeper and closer exchanges and cooperation, there would be more fruitful achievements and more profound friendship.
Mr. Wu Jingping, Member of the Standing Committee of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the CPC, Mr. Zhu Hexin, Vice Governor of Sichuan Provincial People's Government, Ms. Nancy Gordan, Consul-General of Australia to Chengdu, also attended the meeting.
