Exchanges Between Jinan And Its Friendship Cities

Since the twinning of first pair of international friendship cities between Jinan and Wakayama City of Japan in 1983， the Chinese side has established such relationships with 21 cities in 20 countries and friendly cooperation relations with 24 cities in 18 countries.

Cultivating partnerships of distinctive features. In its exchanges， Jinan pays great attention to bringing into full play respective advantages to cultivate special partnerships for pragmatic cooperation. In its exploration to construct an industrial cooperation demonstration city， it strengthened contacts with cities such as Dresden of Germany whose industry is advanced and complementary； in promoting the establishment of a cultural city exchange mechanism， it focused on Suwon of the ROK and Rennes of France； in establishing an education exchange mechanism， it started such exchanges with the American city of Sacramento and Yamaguchi of Japan； in developing a tourism partnership to promote exchanges between the people of friendship cities， it enhanced cooperation with Marmaris of Turkey and Augsburg of Germany.

Creating brand activities. Known for its springs， Jinan uses this brand image to focus its exchanges in economy， trade， culture and education. It organized the Jinan International Children’s Festival annually from 2006 to 2010， and Jinan International Friendship-City Cultural Exchange from 2011 to 2014 with an annual sub-theme： Large-scale Photo Exhibition， Spring City Cultural Dialogue， Friendship-City Enterprises’ Jinan Tour， and the First Book Exhibition.

Attracting foreign investment. In recent years， high-level visits between Jinan and its twinned cities have helped in the signing of more than 20 agreements between major enterprises in Jinan including China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co.， Ltd. and INSPUR and their cooperation partners， and brought about over 120 economic and trade cooperation projects with Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg of Germany， NEC of Japan， Volvo Construction Equipment of Sweden and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia， with a total foreign investment of 10 billion US dollars.

Enhancing people’s mutual understanding through increased friendship-city cultural exchanges. The holding of “Jinan Culture Week”， “Spring City Jinan Photo Exhibition” and other activities in Vantaa， Wakayama， Daejeon and Sacramento has helped the people of these cities gain a better understanding of Jinan； and the shooting of the documentary series Friendship Cities in cooperation with TV stations enabled the Jinan audience to see the landscape， the life and customs of six cities most representative of different types of Jinan’s friendship cities， and the achievements of these exchanges， giving local people some idea of the city’s friendship-city work.