On June 24, the opening ceremony for a photo exhibition commemorating the 30th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Fuzhou and Tacoma was held in Fuzhou. The exhibition aims to review the splendid history of friendly exchanges between the two cities and showcase the fruitful results of their cooperation.
The exhibition consists of four sections: historic moments, governmental exchanges, people-to-people exchanges, and economic cooperation. It features precious historical photos including those of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s personal involvement in fostering ties between the two cities. It highlighted moments such as Fuzhou’s donation of “Fuzhou Ting” to Tacoma, the establishment of the Joint Committee for Cooperation and Development between the two cities, the formation of dragon boat teams across the Pacific shores, youth exchanges, and the promotion of bilateral trade through mutual sending of economic delegations.
Fuzhou, a coastal city in southeastern China, and Tacoma, a port city in Washington State, USA, became sister cities in 1994, personally promoted by Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee.
With the establishment of the sister city relationship, Fuzhou and Tacoma have sent delegations to each other to participate in trade talks and exhibitions multiple times. In 2008, they signed a memorandum of understanding on mutual dispatch of economic representatives, achieving direct bilateral trade of USD 450,000 and trade contract value of USD 1.57 million over one and a half years. In 2019, the Management Committee of Fuzhou Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the World Trade Center Tacoma signed a cooperation agreement, under which they carried out multiple online and offline exchanges and actively guided business matching between the two cities.
Besides significant development in economic and trade, the two cities have also conducted people-to-people exchanges with rich contents and frequent highlights. In terms of youth and educational exchanges, The Affiliated High School of Fuzhou Institute of Education and Lincoln High School, Fuzhou Senior High School and Stadium High School, Fuzhou Polytechnic and Bates Technical College have established sister school relationships, engaging in various forms of youth exchange activities.
In addition, cultural exchanges between the two cities have flourished. Over the past three decades, activities such as dragon boat races and international sister city cultural festivals have painted a vivid picture of people-to-people ties.
By forging ties with Tacoma, Fuzhou has opened another window to the world, accelerating its pace of opening-up and showcasing the real and open Fuzhou to the world.
In September 2019, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of sister-city relationship, Fuzhou and Tacoma signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the Joint Committee for Cooperation and Development, establishing a normalized consultation and cooperation mechanism for coordinating friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation in areas such as economy, culture, education, and sports.
Over the past 30 years, Fuzhou and Tacoma have conducted fruitful exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, culture, education, and sports. Their exchanges have become increasingly close, and the friendship between their people has deepened. Their sister-city relationship has remained strong and renewed over time.
