Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) met in Beijing with the 11th Japan National Mayor Association (JNMA) delegation led by President ARAKI KEIJI on March, 5th.

Vice President Song extended warm welcome to the delegation. He said that, this year marks the 45th anniversary of the normalization of the diplomatic relations between China and Japan. The bilateral ties face some important opportunities to further improve. CPAFFC and CJFA would like to work together with JNMA to push forward the local exchange cooperation of the two countries by way of keeping close cooperation，enriching the connotation of the exchanges and enhancing the levels of the exchanges.

President ARAKI KEIJI said that there are a total number of 814 members with city-level and district-level in JNMA. Over 270 cities and districts among the members have established friendship-city relations with China. The active development of the local exchanges of the two countries is inseparable from the attention and support of the leaders of CPAFFC and CJFA. In the future, JNMA will work together with the Chinese side to further improve the local exchanges and cooperation of the two countries and made contributions to the continuous improvement and development of the Sino-Japanese relations.

At the invitation of CPAFFC, the delegation will visit Beijing, Guilin, Wuxi, Shanghai and etc. from 5 to 10 March, 2017. During the visit, the delegation will inspect the current situation of the economic and social development of the different cities in China and exchange their views with the leaders of relevant organizations on topics common concern.