Shanghai mayor leads a delegation to visit Japan

Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong led a delegation to visit Japan from June 2 to 4. During the trip, Ying successively met Fumiko Hayashi, mayor of Yokohama, Yuriko Koike, governor of Tokyo, and Cheng Yonghua, China’s ambassador to Japan.

While meeting Hayashi, Ying said good local exchanges are the foundation for Sino-Japan relations. Yokohama is the first Japanese city that Shanghai established the twin city tie 45 years ago and the two have carried out extensive cooperation in various industries ever since.

Shanghai hopes to take advantage of this visit to strengthen the two cities’ cooperation in trade, technological innovations, smart city and elderly care. This November, the city will host the China International Import Expo and Shanghai welcomes Yokohama’s companies to participate in the expo and the city will keep promoting the economic globalization and trade liberation, Ying added.

Hayashi said she has visited Shanghai for three times and she felt amity between the two cities during each of her visit. She hopes the two cities can learn from each other’s experiences and strengthen their cooperation.

After the meeting, Ying and Hayashi signed the Shanghai-Yokohama Friendly Exchange Agreement (2019-2023).

At a following meeting with Koike, Ying informed her that Shanghai is working hard to build itself into an international economic, financial, trade, and shipping center; a technology and innovation center; and an excellent metropolis. Shanghai can learn from Tokyo’s experiences in urban development, social and communities’ management.

Koike briefed Ying on the preparations of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games and Tokyo’s measures in tackling the problems such as the aging society and sustainable development. She hoped the two cities can keep strengthening their cooperation and exchanges.

Also, Ying learned about the master plan of Tokyo’s urban development introduced by Tokyo’s Bureau of Urban Development and had discussions with officials there on urban development and management. Ying also inspected Tokyo’s comprehensive urban development projects, such as its garbage classification system, garbage treatment plants, elderly home and the Yokohama Comprehensive Traffic Hub.

Ying also visited Cheng Yonghua, China’s ambassador to Japan.

Guo Yan, envoy of the Embassy of China in Japan, attended related activities.