２００７ Ｊｉｕｊｉａｎｇ Ｉｎｔｅｒｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ Ｃｉｔｉｅｓ Ｃｏｎｆｅｒｅｎｃｅ Ｈｅｌｄ

The 2007 Jiujiang International Friendship Cities Conference was held from October 24 to 27， 2007. Over 80 guests from 7 cities of 6 countries including Jiujiang’s friendship cities and cities that had conducted friendly cooperation and exchanges with it gathered in Jiujiang， a beautiful port city， to enhance friendship and jointly work for development.

Present at the welcoming ceremony on the morning of October 25 were delegations from Baw Baw Shire of Australia， Koper of Slovenia， Tamano and Yamato-Takada of Japan， Louisville of Kentucky State of the United States， Kajaani of Oulu Province of Finland， and Legionowo of Poland. Ms. Sharon Recevour， global envoy of Sister Cities International of the United States， and 23 musicians of the U.S. Americana Music Group also attended the ceremony.

At the first such conference ever held in the SN International Hotel Jiujiang， Chen Anzhong， secretary of the Jiujiang Municipal CPC Committee， said with emotion， Jiujiang has always attached great importance to conducting both nongovernmental and governmental exchanges and cooperation in the cultural and economic areas with international friendship cities. The fields of our cooperation are being expanded and friendship deepened， yielding fruitful results， which has greatly promoted common prosperity and development. The theme of this conference is “friendship， cooperation， peace and development.” Chen hoped that through joint efforts， and upholding the notion of “trust， cooperation， mutual benefits and achieving win-win results”， Jiujiang and its friendship cities would carry out friendly cooperation at multiple levels in various forms and areas so as to push the exchanges and cooperation between them to a higher level.

In her speech， Mayor Wang Ping said， we can learn successful experience from each other and find new areas of development from the differences between us. She suggested a permanent mechanism for exchanges and cooperation between friendship cities be established to facilitate communication between governments and cooperation between enterprises and to seek common interests for both sides. She hoped that more economic， social and cultural exchanges would be held between the friendship cities to further broaden the areas and raise the level of exchanges so as to achieve substantial results.

In their speeches at the ceremony， heads of the 7 delegations respectively made brief introductions to the history， cultural background， the development in education， tourism and industry of their own cities.

On the evening of Oct. 24， the ceremony of unveiling the plaque of Jiujiang’s international friendship cities was held at Hezhong Square at the city centre. At 8:00 p.m. fulfilling the expectation of all the people present， the plaque of the international friendship cities which was put on the wall of the covered bridge in the Hezhong Square was unveiled. On the plaque there are names of the 8 friendship cities. Above the cities names are pictures of their national flags， and below them the names of their countries， the date of twinning and the distance between them and Jiujiang. After the unveiling ceremony， landscape films of these cities were shown on the water curtain at the covered bridge.

Wei-Bin Zeng， professor with the Louisville University，who attended the ceremony said:“Jiujiang is a dynamic city. The vitality and modernity of the city we experienced at the unveiling ceremony left a deep impression on me.”He said， the citizens can witness the interaction between our two cities when passing by the plaque everyday. The friendship between the two cities will not stop at the hand-shaking between the two mayors. This plaque will give us a lasting memory.

On the evening of October 25， the Concert “Jiujiang Under the Moonlight” was held at the Baishuimingzhu Conference Centre. The 23 musicians of the Americana Music Group of Louisville， Kentucky gave wonderful performances to celebrate the convening of the Jiujiang International Friendship Cities Conference. The Music Group known as the top band， the “Dream and Fantasy Group” in the American musical circles is good at playing American country music. When J. D. Miller who had won the Grammy Award several times and Jing Zhou， a Chinese American pianist， played the theme songs of classic films such as Love Story， Men in Trees， Don’t Cry for Me， Argentina， the audience’s attention was immediately caught by the familiar tunes. Especially the old song The Moon Represents My Heart sung by Nancy Cheak with emotion was warmly applauded by the audience. By the end of the party， Mayor Wang Ping took the stage and sang beautifully the English song Edelweiss and the Chinese song Jasmine Flower， pushing the party to a climax.

On October 27， the conference came to a successful end. During the conference， various sectors of Jiujiang and the delegations from its friendship cities had extensive and substantial exchanges and cooperation in many areas. Both sides have reaped rich fruits.