On September 15, Shi Xiaolin, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Governor of the People's Government of Sichuan Province, met with New Zealand Ambassador to China Jonathan Edward Austin and his delegation in Chengdu.

Shi Xiaolin welcomed Ambassador Jonathan Edward Austin for his revisit to Sichuan and provided an overview of the province's development. She noted that in recent years, within the backdrop of steadily advancing China-New Zealand friendly relations, Sichuan and New Zealand have sustained intergovernmental exchanges, continuously deepened economic and trade engagement, expanded cultural and people-to-people ties, and steadily solidified practical sci-tech collaboration. We hope to take Your Excellency the Ambassador's current visit as an opportunity to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, build upon existing sound cooperation foundations, identify more convergence points, and continuously expand cooperation in economy and trade, science and technology, education and other fields. We will enhance mutual promotion and cultural tourism interactions, jointly polish the golden name card of world-class tourist destinations, deepen sister-city exchanges, and make our mutually beneficial cooperation closer, more productive, and more fruitful, thereby bringing greater benefits to our peoples.

Jonathan Edward Austin said that under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, cooperation between New Zealand and Sichuan has been flourishing across various fields. The two places demonstrate strong complementarity in the economic, trade, and cultural tourism sectors. We hope to sustain close intergovernmental engagement, deepen sister-city cooperation, facilitate the resumption of direct flights, expand collaboration in such areas as industries, education, and tourism, promote friendly people-to-people exchanges, support enterprises in scaling up two-way investment, and elevate our friendly relations to new heights.

Heads of relevant provincial departments and others attended the meeting.