At the invitation of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the municipal government of Dunedin, New Zealand, Mr. Feng Guoqin, Chairman of CPPCC Shanghai Committee, led a Shanghai delegation to pay friendly visits to the two aforementioned countries recently.

During the visit to Metropolitan Manila, a sister city of Shanghai, Mr. Feng met with local political leaders including Ms. Villarosa, Deputy Speaker of the Philippines House of Representative, Mr. Inocentes, Chairman of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and Mr. Alfredo S. Lim, Mayor of Manila. Mr. Feng passed on the list of donated materials for helping the regions stricken by Typhoon Ketsana in Metropolitan Manila on behalf of Shanghai Municipal Government to Mr. Inocentes. In return, Mr. Inocentes presented Mr. Feng with a memorial plate appreciating the humanitarian relief provided by Shanghai. Moreover, he sang high praise for the relief in his speech, saying that it had embodied the sisterly friendship between the two cities, which could be compared to people in the same boat helping each other. He added that it had also deepened the average Manila people’s friendly feelings towards Shanghai. With a view to strengthening the basis for sister-city exchanges between the two sides, Mr. Feng, and Mr. Inocentes signed together the Letter of Intent on Friendly Cooperation between Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China, and Manila, the Republic of the Philippines. Mr Feng also received the urban golden key symbolizing Manila presented by the Mayor. On the occasion of the signing ceremony, both sides expressed the opinion that the said letter of intent would help the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two cities in the future in areas including economy, finance, trade, harbor, education, culture, tourism, and youth exchanges to achieve the joint prosperity and progress.

It is the major purpose of the Shanghai delegation to make friends with all walks of life as well as to promote the concrete cooperation. During its stay in the Philippines, Mr. Feng also met with WHO officers including Dr. Shin Young-soo, Regional Director of World Health Organization Western Pacific Office, focusing on the promotion and presentation of the project regarding Shanghai’s application for the establishment of the WHO Health City Cooperation Center. During the talk, Mr. Feng pointed out that the Chinese government had paid considerable attention to the people’s health and Shanghai had done a large quantity of effective work and laid sound foundations for the establishment of a health city at world level. He expressed his hope that the said center would settle down in Shanghai as soon as possible. Dr. Shin spoke highly of the work done by Shanghai and said that Shanghai had already had basic conditions; however, relevant materials for the application needed further perfecting. He added that he would try his best to have the project fulfilled. Furthermore, Mr. Feng and his party also visited Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines. He met with Mayor Garcia. Both sides exchanged views on the economic, trade, humanistic, and tourist exchanges between Shanghai and Cebu.

During the delegation’s stay in Dunedin, Mr. Feng called on Mayor Peter Chin and attended the signing ceremony for the establishment of the sister garden between Shanghai Yu Garden and Dunedin Chinese Garden, Lan Yuan. Mr. Feng said that Lan Yuan, whose completion took 12 years, was a symbol of the fruit of friendly cooperation between Shanghai and Dunedin. Both sides also explored the possibility of strengthening cooperation in fields including cultural exchanges and social construction and reached considerable consensus. The achievements made by the Shanghai delegation in terms of this visit are abundant. Availing itself of the opportunity of the incoming World Exposition, the delegation vigorously gave publicity to Shanghai and the Expo, which promoted the influence of the Expo abroad, enhanced the exchanges between Shanghai and Metropolitan Manila and those between Shanghai and Dunedin, expanded the channel of friendly exchanges between Shanghai and the said two cities. It evoked active response from the foreign sides.