2017 BRICS Friendship Cities and Local Governments Cooperation Forum Successfully Held
On July 12th , hosted by CPAFFC, CIFCA and Chengdu Municipal People’s Government, undertaken by Chengdu Foreign Affairs Office, 2017 BRICS Friendship Cities and Local Governments Cooperation Forum was successfully held in Chengdu. Mr. Wang Jiarui, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC, Madame Li Xiaolin, President of CPAFFC and CIFCA, Mr. Deng Chuan, Vice Chairman of the Sichuan Committee of CPPCC, Mr. Luo Qiang, Mayor of Chengdu, Mr. Tang Chuanping, Chairman of CPPCC Chengdu Committee, Mr. Des Van Rooyen, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs of South Africa, Mr. Luciano Nunes Santos Filho, President of UNALE, Mr. Shipilov Aleksei, First Deputy Governor of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomus Okrug-Ugra of Russia, Madam I Kundan, Additional Municipal Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai of India, etc. attended the forum and delivered speeches respectively.
Mr. Wang Jiarui pointed out that the Communist Party of China and Chinese government attach great importance to the cooperation among local governments, especially friendship cities of BRICS countries. On July 7th, President Xi Jinping presided over the BRICS Leaders’ Informal Meeting on the margins of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, reaffirming China’s intention and unchanging stand of highly valuing its cooperation with BRICS countries. The overall situation of the present world is still complicated and fraught with uncertainty. Developing countries have a common goal of national stability and people’s happiness. China has always been adhering to the principle of friendship with foreign countries. We hope that on the basis of mutual understanding, the BRICS countries will uphold the concept of openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and cooperation, and achieve higher cooperation at the Xiamen Summit in September.
Madam Li Xiaolin said that, with the increasingly close ties among BRICS countries, the BRICS Friendship Cities and Local Governments Cooperation Forum has become an important content of BRICS cooperation. Being responsible for the coordination and management of Chinese friendship cities, CPAFFC and CIFCA have worked together with friendly organizations and personnel from BRICS countries and made gratifying accomplishments in cooperation at the local and regional level. As a representative of emerging countries in transition, the BRICS countries have already formed a community of common destiny. There still leaves great space and potential for the development of friendship cities among the five countries. The forum is expected to serve as a bridge of exchange and mutual learning for cities and local governments of BRICS countries to seize opportunities and meet changes together.
About 200 delegates, including around 100 ministers, state governors, mayors, heads of local organizations from the four other BRICS countries, and over 100 Chinese local leaders and representatives, experts and scholars, as well as entrepreneurs from 17 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions attended the forum.
As one of the series of activities of the BRICS Xiamen Summit, the forum is concentrated on the theme of “Interconnected Development, Joint Innovation and Shared Benefits”. Top Talk among leaders of provinces and cities, as well as theme forums on “Urban Internationalization: Opportunity and Challenge” and “Education Exchange: Mechanism Innovation and Resource Sharing” were held. Also, the “Chengdu Initiative” was issued.
The BRICS Friendship Cities and Local Governments Cooperation Forum was a mechanism aimed to promote exchanges and cooperation at the local and regional level among BRICS countries, initiated by CPAFFC and CIFCA when China held the BRICS Presidency in 2011. It is held every year by the BRICS Presidency and embraces its second time to be held by China this year.
