With the commitment to promote opening-up with foreign countries and cities, the government of Shenyang has been launching a series of publicity platforms and planned exchanges in various fields.
Since 2012 around 10 foreign dignitaries have visited the city, including those from such countries as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Germany. On top of this, there were 37 foreign delegations at or above the provincial and ministerial level performing field investigations in the city.
At the 16th China-Japan Exchange Promotion Seminar between Local Authorities in 2017, which was attended by officials from the local government and Japanese consulate general in Shenyang, fruitful achievements were made in boosting in-depth cooperation between the two sides.
The 18th World Winter Cities Association for Mayors Conference took place in 2018 and the Shenyang Declaration released at the event drew attention from global participants.
In 2020, the second session of the Dialogue in Liaoning activity tapped into the potential of cooperation with partners from Japan's Kansai region with the help of precise matchmaking and communication.
The fifth China-CEEC Local Leaders' Meeting in 2021, which served diplomacy to cooperate with Central and Eastern European countries, was highly praised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and laid a solid foundation for further exchanges with those countries and regions.
In 2019, Australia officially launched a consulate general in Shenyang. To date, there are a total of eight foreign consulates general in Shenyang, constituting key channels for Shenyang's foreign exchanges.
At present, Shenyang has built up cooperative ties with 100 cities from 43 countries, including 23 sister cities and 77 cities with cooperative relations. The total number ranked first in Liaoning province. Four typical cities that have established sister city relations with Shenyang — Sapporo in Japan, Chicago in the United States, Daejeon in South Korea and Belfast in Northern Ireland — were successively granted International Sister City Exchange and Cooperation Awards.
With efforts to better serve foreigners and optimize the city's foreign affair-related public service system, Shenyang is now operating three international communities, six international schools, one international hospital and nine designated foreign affair-related hospitals.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opportunities for global partners to visit each other have been limited. Therefore, the city has been promoting business travel cards to assist communication and established a green channel for foreigners to resume work in Shenyang.
liyou@chinadaily.com.cn
