From July 9 to 11, Ms. Marciana Valdivieso, Mayor of Manta, Ecuador, visited Ningbo with her delegation. It was the first time for the Manta Municipal Government to send a delegation to Ningbo since the establishment of the sister-city relationship between the two cities.

During her stay in Ningbo, Mayor Valdivieso visited Ningbo City Brain, Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group, Ningbo Water Environment Group, Ningbo Children's Library and Tianyige Museum, spent much time in learning about Ningbo's efforts in the development of new types of infrastructure, smart cities and child-friendly cities, and attended the Awarding Ceremony of the 2024 Ningbo and Friendship Cities Children's Painting Exhibition.

On the afternoon of July 10, Mr. TANG Feifan, Deputy Secretary of CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Ningbo, met with Mayor Valdivieso and her delegation. Ms. YE Miao, Member of Party Leadership Group of Ningbo Municipal Government, Mr. ZHU Jinmao, Secretary General of Ningbo Municipal Government, Mr. YE Rongzhong, Secretary of Party Leadership Group of Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office, and Ms. BAO Xianping, Director General of Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office, attended the relevant events.

Located in the most western part of the Manabí Province in western Ecuador, Manta is Ecuador's second largest port city, ranking after Guayaquil. Manta is also the country's important processing and export center of marine products as well as one of the major navy and air force bases. Manta covers an area of 60.49 square kilometers and has a population of 270,000. On September 2018, Ningbo and Manta officially signed the agreement for establishing the sister-city relationship of friendly exchanges.