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Guangzhou and Rabat sign sister city agreement

03 October 2013

by Richard Forster

Madame Li Xiaolin, President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, revealed yesterday that Chen Jianhua, Mayor of Guangzhou, would sign a sister city agreement today with Fathallah Oualalou, Mayor of Rabat.

Addressing the audience at the opening plenary session of the Fourth UCLG World Congress in Rabat, Li said that the agreement with the host city was the latest in a long line of sister city agreements for China. A key mission of the People’s Association has been to establish agreements between Chinese cities and their overseas counterparts. “Entrusted by the Chinese government, this Association is coordinating and overseeing the establishment and development of friendship city relationships between China and other countries,” said Li. “Since 1973, we have established sister cities relationships in 131 countries.”

Madame Li explained that China was at a crucial stage of development and could no longer afford to continue with the old model of high consumption and high investment. It must now take a holistic approach in pursuing steady growth and urbanisation as one of the driving forces behind economic reform.

“The new road of urbanisation is one of the most important topics in China today and half of China’s population is still rural with more than 100 million people set to be absorbed into cities over the next decade,” said Li. “This will be an extremely complex process and requires an innovative policy approach. We are determined to pursue the new dawn of urbanisation with Chinese characteristics, which puts people first and is coordinated with sustainable development.”

As part of this process, Madame Li said that Chinese cities and local governments need to learn from the useful experience of other cities and to work closely with friends internationally. Towards this end, China will host two important events for cities in 2014 welcoming local government representatives to the UCLG World Council in Haikou and to the Guangzhou International Awards for Urban Innovation.

“The Guangzhou Award is a platform for exchange of valuable experiences in city management,” said Madame Li, confirming that the Awards and the Fourth International Friendship Congress would take place in Guangzhou in November 2014. “Both events have the full support of the Chinese central government and I believe the awards will have a positive influence on the international community.“

Chen Jianhua, Mayor of Guangzhou and Fathallah Oualalou, Mayor of Rabat at today's signing of the sister city agreement between the two cities
Chen Jianhua, Mayor of Guangzhou and Fathallah Oualalou, Mayor of Rabat at today’s signing of the sister city agreement between the two cities
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