On March 28, Mr. Kawamura Yoshio, the newly-appointed director of the Dalian Office of Toyama Prefecture in Japan, paid a visit to Shenyang and held a working meeting with the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shenyang Municipal People’s Government.

Deputy Director Guo Hongyan of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shenyang Municipal People’s Government stated that Shenyang, as the central city in Northeast China, remains unwavering in its pursuit of high-quality development. The economic and social development has maintained a steady and progressive, upward-trending momentum. In 2024, the regional GDP surpassed 900 billion yuan, registering a year-on-year growth of 5.2%, higher than the national and provincial average levels for three consecutive years. In the second half of last year, the state conferred upon Shenyang a new positioning as an international central city in Northeast Asia. With the major historical opportunity of Shenyang's new-round revitalization and development, Shenyang is focusing on the construction of international central city in Northest Asia, sparing no effort to build the "One Hub, and Four Centers", building a model city of international friendship cities exchanges and an international exchange center city in Northeast Asia, continuously enhancing the "Foreign Affairs +" concept, creating an upgraded version of the "International Shenyang" brand, and steadily elevating internationalization. Shenyang attaches great significance to its exchanges with Japan and maintains friendly and cooperative relations with all sectors. The two sides enjoy close economic and trade cooperation, frequent friendship city exchanges, and vibrant people-to-people interactions, laying a solid foundation for cooperation. It is the hope that the Dalian Office of Toyama Prefecture will continue to leverage its bridging advantages, promote the establishment of a liaison mechanism between Shenyang and the cities in Toyama Prefecture, and boost exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in areas such as economy and trade, pharmaceuticals, culture, and tourism, injecting new impetus into the continuous and in-depth development of the friendly relationship between Liaoning Province and Toyama Prefecture.

Director Kawamura Yoshio remarked that each visit to Shenyang allowed him to witness the tremendous development and changes in Shenyang as the central city in Northeast China. He extended his gratitude for the long-term strong support provided by Shenyang for the friendly exchanges between Toyama Prefecture and Liaoning Province. In the future, he will continue to play a pivotal role as a link, promote multi-field exchanges between the cities in Toyama Prefecture and Shenyang, and contribute to achieving more fruitful outcomes in the exchanges between Toyama Prefecture and Liaoning Province.

Toyama Prefecture is located in the central part of Honshu Island, Japan. It covers an area of approximately 4,247 square kilometers, with 15 administrative divisions, and a population of around 995,000. Toyama Prefecture has a prosperous pharmaceutical industry and a well-developed machinery and metal industry, earning the reputation of the "Pharmacy Capital of Japan". In 1984, Liaoning Province and Toyama Prefecture established a friendly provincial-prefectural relationship.