Wuhan, Swansea establish sister city relationship

The central China city of Wuhan and British coastal city of Swansea Wednesday signed an agreement to establish a sister city relationship between the two cities.

The agreement was signed during the Wuhan/Hubei-UK Business Networking Event held in Wuhan. A group of British entrepreneurs, led by Liam Fox, British Secretary of State for International Trade, attended the event.

Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, is China's major industrial and educational base. As a transportation hub and a historic location, the city has tremendous development potential and vigor.

Swansea, officially known as the City and County of Swansea, is located in Wales. During the Industrial Revolution, Swansea was a key center of the copper industry.

"It is very important that we give time and effort to build our relationships with cities beyond just the main political and financial cities. This is a city that's very clearly having a renaissance, being revitalized. It is becoming a major, not just national. but international economic player," said Fox.

Wan Yong, mayor of Wuhan, said that the city has maintained close contacts with Britain in trade, culture, and education. In 1986, it established a sister city relationship with British city of Manchester.

Wan told the British entrepreneurs that the city is endeavoring to create favorable conditions for foreign investors to invest and live there.

"We want to ensure that British companies are able to come and invest the opportunities available here, and we want to see investors from Wuhan to invest in Britain. We think there is a great future partnership to be built here. I hope we are laying foundations for that," Fox said.