On November 11, the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the international friendship city relationship between Sichuan Province and Hiroshima Prefecture was held in Chengdu. Yin Li, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Governor of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province, Hidehiko Yuzaki, Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture, and Nakamoto Takashi, Speaker of Hiroshima County Council, attended the anniversary.

　　Yin Li extended a warm welcome to guests present at the anniversary on behalf of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province. He said, during the 35 years of the international friendship relationship between Sichuan Province and Hiroshima Prefecture, the two sides had maintained frequent communications and carried out exchanges and cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, culture, tourism, medical care and environmental protection; Especially in case of major natural disasters, both sides had offered humanitarian care and assistance to each other, which was a tie and witness of the friendship between the two peoples and had made positive contributions to the development of China-Japan relations. Sichuan was one of the fastest growing and most dynamic regions in the west of China, and was taking Xi Jinping's Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era as the guide, actively putting the “Belt and Road Initiative”into practice, building a new inner regional development pattern and forming a new three-dimensional and all-around opening-up situation to the world, promoting the high-quality development of economy and society. These measures had provided a good opportunity and a broad space for further strengthening Sichuan’s friendly cooperation with the world including Hiroshima. Sichuan would like to take the anniversary as an opportunity to consolidate and enhance the friendship city relationship between Sichuan Province and Hiroshima Prefecture, expand the fields of cooperation and promote the cooperation to a higher level. Sichuan was willing to further strengthen the diverse docking and cooperation with Hiroshima, deepen the friendly cooperation in the fields of trade and investment, technological innovation, high-end manufacturing, energy conservation and environmental protection, modern agriculture, cultural tourism and disaster prevention and mitigation to achieve mutual benefit and win-win. Yin Li welcomed Japanese to come to Sichuan for tourism, investment, and cultural exchanges, and continue to support Sichuan's construction and development.

　　Hidehiko Yuzaki said that during the 35 years of the international friendship city relationship between Hiroshima Prefecture and Sichuan Province, the two sides had achieved fruitful results in the fields of industry and commerce, agriculture, forestry, environmental protection, medical care, education and culture. In addition, the friendship relationships between Shobara City in Hiroshima Prefecture and Mianyang City, Otake City and Dujiangyan City, East Hiroshima City and Deyang City, Miyoshi City and Yucheng District in Ya’an City had been established respectively. Hiroshima Prefectural Japan-China Friendship Association and Sichuan Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries had actively carried out friendship activities and sent delegations to each other, making great efforts to promote the friendship between Hiroshima Prefecture and Sichuan Province. The Sichuan-Hiroshima Exchange Office, which was established in Chengdu, had held a business conference focusing on environmental protection, which had also further promoted the economic exchanges and profound friendship between Hiroshima Prefecture and Sichuan Province. In addition, 152 Hiroshima high school students had come to Sichuan for exchanges, and 104 students from Sichuan were studying in Hiroshima, symbolizing the solid friendship bridge between the younger generation of the two sides. Hiroshima was famous for its shipbuilding, automobile, steel and other industries, and its high-tech industries such as semiconductors were developing rapidly in recent years. Sichuan was a major province of economy in the west of China and played an important part in the construction of the “Belt and Road”. In recent years, Sichuan had achieved remarkable development results. He hoped that the both sides could further consolidate the friendly exchanges and cooperation on the basis of mutual assistance and mutual benefit, ushering in a new era of Japan-China relations with joint efforts.

　　Li Yunze, Vice Governor of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province, presided over the anniversary. Watanabe Hiroyuki, Consul General of Japan in Chongqing, Ye Zhuang, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Sichuan Provincial People's Congress, and representatives of relevant municipal and provincial departments, friendship organizations and Japanese-funded enterprises in Sichuan attended the anniversary.