Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ Ｄａｔｏｎｇ Ｃｉｔｙ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｉｔｓ Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ Ｃｉｔｙ Ｏｍｕｔａ

The year 2006 marks the 25th anniversary of twinning friendship-city ties between Datong， Shanxi Province and Omuta， Japan. A goodwill delegation of the Datong Municipal Government paid a visit to Omuta and participated in a series of celebration activities.

The two cities reached agreement on the programme of friendly exchanges in 2007，and decided to continue exchanges and cooperation in the technology of environmental protection， and through exchanging information and research findings they hoped to raise the level of environmental protection and improve the quality of environment. They also decided to continue their friendly exchanges in urban gardening and greening and cherry tree planting.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the friendship ties between the two cities， a photo exhibition about Datong City and a Datong coal exhibition were held in the Omuta Museum of Coal Science. Zhang Fuwen， vice mayor of Datong， and Nichio Koga， mayor of Omuta， jointly inaugurated the exhibitions.

The Datong delegation attended the dinner party and the ceremony in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of friendship ties between the two cities. In his speech， Vice Mayor Zhang Fuwen recalled the achievements of friendly exchanges between the two cities in the past 25 years， and on behalf of the Datong citizens， expressed his best regards to the citizens of Omuta and his aspiration of promoting friendly exchanges between the two cities. The celebration was carried out in an enthusiastic and friendly atmosphere. Personages of various circles present at the celebration said that they would like to visit Datong in 2007 and make contributions to strengthening friendship and exchanges between the two cities. During the dinner party the folk art performing group of Omuta City gave wonderful performances.

The delegation paid official calls on the city governments of Takadamachi and Arao that kept friendly relations with Datong.