On the afternoon of June 28, Mr. ZHAO Haibin, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee and Executive Deputy Mayor of Ningbo Municipal Government, met with Mr. Gary van Niekerk, Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, and his delegation.

Mr. ZHAO Haibin extended a warm welcome to Mayor Niekerk and his delegation. Mr. ZHAO said that since the establishment of sister-city relationship between Ningbo and Nelson Mandela Bay in 2003, the two cities had conducted active exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, health, culture, education and agriculture, which had yielded fruitful results. This year marked a grand year of China-Africa cooperation and also the beginning of another twenty years of development of the sister-city relationship between the two cities. The Mayor Niekerk's special visit to Ningbo this time would create new opportunities for the two cities to deepen cooperation. He hoped that the two cities would continue to deepen practical cooperation in various areas and benefit their citizens under the guidance of the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation. The two cities should further strengthen cooperation in the fields of ports, logistics and shipping to make new breakthroughs in port and shipping cooperation; work together to tap the potential of economic and trade cooperation, expand diversified channels of exchanges, and promote economic and trade exchanges to scale new heights; intensify exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, tourism and education to promote new development in people-to-people exchanges.

Mayor Niekerk spoke highly of the friendly relationship between the two cities, and expressed his wishes to work together with Ningbo to continuously deepen practical exchanges and cooperation in the fields of urban construction, education, ports and manufacturing.

Mr. YE Rongzhong, Secretary of Party Leadership Group of Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office and Level Ⅰ Bureau Rank Official, and Mr. JIAO Shuanglin, Deputy Director-General of Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office, attended the meeting.

During their stay in Ningbo, Mayor Niekerk and his delegation attended the 2024 Maritime Silk Road Port Cooperation Forum, and visited the First Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo University and Ningbo Osda Solar Company.