The opening ceremony of the 2022 Fuzhou International Friendship Cities Cultural Festival was successfully held on June 21. Vice Mayor of Fuzhou Municipal People's Government Huang Jianxiong, joined by representatives from 20 foreign cities and regions attended the ceremony.

Representatives from Naha, Honolulu, Gwangyang, Colon and other regions delivered a speech through virtual meeting. They introduced the general situation of their respective cities, reviewed the history of friendly relations with Fuzhou city, and commended that this cultural festival provided opportunities for exchanges among countries and promoted the integration and mutual learning of diverse cultures. Going ahead, China and its sister cities need to enhance cooperation in science, culture, education and advance the friendly relations to a higher level.

Then comes the highlight of the event. Vice Mayor Huang Jianxiong and Constantinos Yiorkadjis, Mayor of Nicosia, signed a letter of intent to establish friend city relations. As the capital of Cyprus and an economic, cultural and international business center, Nicosia has started to build relations with Fuzhou last year, when the "International Digital Economy College, Minjiang University", a Sino-foreign joint-teaching college organized by Minjiang University and European University of Cyprus, was officially approved by the Ministry of Education, China.

YGL was invited to attend the event, for the contribution and efforts it had made in building the connection between two cities, and facilitating this process of friendly communication. In September 2020, Mr Liujiting, President of YGL, presented the letter from Mayor of Nicosia to the Fuzhou Government, which opened up the official communication between the two cities.

As two millennia-old cultural cities, the two sides hoped to explore more opportunities in education, research, technology, innovation, culture, tourism and look forward more mutual beneficial cooperation.