Ｓｐｅｅｃｈ ｂｙ Ｉｓａｏ Ｕｚａｋｉ，Ｖｉｃｅ Ｍａｙｏｒ ｏｆ Ｋｏｂｅ，Ｊａｐａｎ（Ｅｘｃｅｒｐｔｓ）

Kobe and Tianjin are the first pair of friendship cities China has twinned with a foreign country. Therefore， I’m greatly honoured to have the opportunity to speak here today.

Chinese cities have established friendship relations with many cities in the world and carried out active exchanges in various fields. According to the statistics compiled by Japan， at present， Japan has twinned a total of 1，567 pairs of friendship cities with 61 countries in the world， of which 326 pairs are twinned with China.

Such exchanges between international friendship cities have promoted mutual understanding and friendship between the people of various countries in the world with different cultures and life styles， contributed to world peace and acquired great significance. State-to-state relations， in the final analysis， must be based on people- to-people relations. The multi-tiered in-depth contacts between the people can build up mutual trust and the exchanges between international friendship cities constitute an important part of such contacts.

Kobe and Tianjin. In 1973， Tianjin and Kobe established friendship-city relations， becoming the first pair of friendship cities between China and other countries. Over the past 35 years， the two cities have conducted uninterrupted fruitful exchanges in wide fields including culture， education， sports， environment， economy， ports， etc.， and played a pioneering role in the ever flourishing exchanges between the friendship cities of China and Japan. We feel very proud for this and， at the same time， the great responsibility to further such exchanges.

Kobe’s contact with China. Kobe has profound historical relations with China. It became Japan’s base of trade with China across the sea as early as the Song Dynasty in the middle of the 12th century. Now， the number of Chinese living and working in Kobe has reached 13，000， forming an important part of development of the city. In Kobe there are many places related with China， for instance the China town known as Nankin-Machi， Kanteibyo (the Temple of Guan Yu)， the Kobe Chinese School with over 700 Chinese students， the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall， etc.

At present， of the cargoes handled by the Kobe port， those imported from and exported to China have both taken up over one fourth of the total， occupying the first place. Trade between Kobe and China is also increasing.

In 1995， a big earthquake hit Kobe， causing tremendous losses. With the help and assistance from home and abroad， Kobe has recovered like a phoenix reborn from the ashes. We think that we in Kobe have the responsibility to pass on to the world our experience in earthquake. We have been actively providing relief aid to places suffering from natural disasters both in Japan and other countries.

After the earthquake struck Wenchuan of Sichuan Province， we immediately set up a relief mechanism， dispatching to the quake-stricken areas goods and material needed for reconstruction， sending specialists， receiving study groups and providing various technical knowledge on reconstruction.

In the meantime， we also hope to take the reconstruction aid projects as an opportunity to further the economic relations between Kobe-Hanshin region and the region of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Currently， we have launched the Shanghai-Yangtze Valley Trade Promotion Project to give impetus to our economic exchanges with Jiangsu， Shanghai， Anhui and Jiangxi.

In September 2007， the World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention was held in Japan for the first time and 3，600 overseas Chinese came from all over the world to Kobe to take part in the convention.

Kobe has a long history of contact with China and we are willing to continue to carry out exchanges in more fields with China.

Prospects for international friendship-city exchanges. Exchanges between international friendship cities have born rich fruit in promoting mutual understanding of the life and cultures of the people of different cities as well as their economic exchanges. In the future， efforts should be made to resolve problems confronting both cities and increase beneficial and substantial exchanges between them.

2008 marks the 35th anniversary of the friendship-city ties between Kobe and Tianjin. Both cities hope to carry out exchanges and cooperation in areas of common concern such as environmental protection， disaster prevention and alleviation， community construction， etc. Not long ago， the two cities jointly held in Tianjin the symposium on business environment and the symposium on disaster prevention and earthquake relief. Just four days ago on November 4， we received a 220-member Tianjin citizens delegation headed by the Mayor of Tianjin. We held a seminar exchanging opinions on the role of communities in urban development in Kobe.

In addition， new agreements have been reached between the two cities on pushing forward exchanges and cooperation in areas including beautification and greening of our cities， and tourism. Kobe and Tianjin have achieved fruitful results in cultural and economic exchanges. We will continue to press ahead with such practical and substantial exchanges and strive to realize the development goals of the two cities.

(Translated from the Chinese translation)