Japan is hoping for more exchanges and deeper friendship with Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, in fields such as the economy, culture, education, tourism, health and sports, said Norio Nakamura, a member of the Japan-China Friendship Association Gunma prefecture branch.
Nakamura expressed his hope on Nov 7-9, when he led a delegation of 28 people from the association branch to pay a visit to Guizhou and Guiyang.
Some officials from Guizhou's government organs met with Nakamura's delegation, including Lu Yongzheng, deputy governor of Guizhou province and Li Zhong, secretary of the leading Party members group and chairman of the Guiyang city people's congress standing committee.
During the meeting, Li pointed out that the visit provided a precious opportunity for both Guiyang and Japan to seek better cooperation and establish a long-term exchange mechanism.
He put forward his hope for more promotion of practical cooperation between the two sides in an effort to achieve mutual benefits and common development.
Recent years have seen Guiyang's active move to advance its efforts in poverty relief, big data development and ecological environmental protection. The city is now dedicated to developing into an internationally influential metropolis featuring medium and high-end consumption, trade and manufacturing, Li said.
The Japan-China Friendship Association was set up to deepen mutual understanding and friendly exchanges between China and Japan and has contributed greatly to friendship between the people from both sides, said Nakamura during the meeting.
His delegation also expressed desire for more communications with Guiyang on hot spring development projects, cultural exchanges and sightseeing, when they visited a couple of featured sites in the city, such as Taoyuan River hot spring in Xiuwen, Qingyan ancient town in Huaxi and Fangzhou Opera Stage.