In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on promoting the work of sister cities, and adhere to the principles of expanding international friends circle with higher quality of the work of sister cities so as to create an upgraded version of "International Shenyang", the "Hello, Shenyang" International Sister City (Shenyang-Sasebo) Mayor Exchange Day Event was successfully held in Shenyang on March 25th.

On the evening of March 25th, Lyu Zhicheng, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Shenyang Municipal Committee and Mayor, met with the delegation from Sasebo to introduce Shenyang's overall situation, development trend, development goals and specific work plans. Mayor Lyu Zhicheng stated that Shenyang has always attached great importance to establishing long-term, extensive, and in-depth friendly cooperation with various regions and enterprises in Japan. Shenyang continuously expands and deepens cooperation with Japan in comprehensive dimensions, multiple levels and wide ranges in terms of  economy, trade, culture and people to people exchanges. He sincerely hopes that Shenyang and Sasebo can deepen exchanges, adhere to complementary advantages and mutual benefit, and jointly promote the diversified and deep cooperation between the two cites.

Miyajima Daisuke, Mayor of Sasebo City, said that this is his first visit to Shenyang and he is amazed by the dynamic development trend in Shenyang. Since the establishment of sister cities in 2011, Sasebo and Shenyang have achieved fruitful exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and the friendly relationship between the two cities has been continuously deepening. He hopes to futher deepen his understanding of Shenyang's history, industry, and beautiful cuisine and promote the sister city relationship to a higher level through this visit. As a port city and tourist destination, Sasebo has abundant tourism resources and unique cuisine. He hoped to take this event as an opportunity to attract more Shenyang citizens to visit Sasebo for tourism.

This event is jointly hosted by the Shenyang Municipal People's Government and the Sasebo Municipal Government of Japan, and jointly organized by the Shenyang Foreign Affairs Office (Shenyang People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries) and the Sasebo Port Department. Takashi Hamada, Consul General of the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, Miyajima Daisuke, Mayor of Sasebo, and Duan Jiyang, Deputy Mayor of Shenyang, attended the event and delivered speeches. Representatives from the Port Department of Sasebo City, Sasebo Pearl Sea Co., Ltd, and Adora Cruises respectively made presentations. Relevant department leaders from Shenyang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Tourism, Radio and Television, Shenyang Municipal Health Commission, Shenyang Municipal Sports Bureau, and Shenyang Nonstaple Foods Group, as well as representatives from multiple travel agencies, attended the event and conducted face-to-face exchanges and interactions with the Japanese tourism industry. On the one hand, they understand the high-quality resources of the cultural tourism and elderly care industries in Sasebo City, and learn the advanced experience. On the other hand, by connections and seeking cooperation opportunities, they have reached cooperation intentions with Sasebo in the fields of elderly care and tourism, as well as personnel exchanges.

Since the twinning of Shenyang and Sasebo in 2011, there have been frequent interactions between the two cities at various levels and in various fields. Former Sasebo Mayor Tomonaga Norio has led a delegation to visit Shenyang seven times, and carried out a variety of exchange activities in various fields such as youth, sports, culture, tourism, education, elderly care and ect. Among them, the two cities youth painting works exchange exhibition as welll as online and offline youth exchange activities have become the brand activities that the two cities continue to carry out.

In the next step, in the field of cultural tourism, the two cities will jointly explore tourism resources, create unique cultural tourism products, and create convenient conditions for tourists of the two cities through charter cruises and planes. In the field of people to people exchanges, the two cities will further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture and sports, encourage and support youth and sports teams to exchange visits, and carry out innovative sister city exchange brand activities such as youth painting exhibition and youth football match, so as to enhance mutual understanding and promote people-to-people bond. In the field of health care, the two cities will carry out practical cooperation in community home care and nursing professionals training, so as to provide diversified and high-quality elderly care services for the elderly in Shenyang. The successful holding of the event will further deepen the exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in various fields, so that the cooperation results of friendship cities can better benefit the people of the two cities.

Shenyang FAO (Shenyang PAFFC) will further explore the resources of sister cities, expand the areas of cooperation between sister cities, promote the "Hello, Shenyang" International Sister City Mayor Exchange Day series activities with sister cities such as Daejeon, and Incheon, Belfast, Békéscsaba (Hungary), and strive to create an upgraded version of "Foreign Affairs +" and “International Shenyang" so as to further promote the high-level opening up of Shenyang, achieve high-quality development and contribute more foreign affairs work to make Shenyang as a pioneer in Liaoning's efforts to build a hub of open cooperation in Northeast Asia.