Mayors and Representatives from 20 Cities Across Five Continents Gather in Ningbo to Discuss "Open Cooperation"

Participants included Wayne Brown, mayor of Auckland, New Zealand; Enrico Ricci, a representative of the mayor of Florence, Italy; Ahmed Wazeery, secretary-general of Suez Governorate, Egypt; and the mayors of three cities in Lebanon. Representatives of international organizations, including the United Nations Global Compact China and the BRICS New Development Bank, also attended.

Under the theme "Openness and Connectivity for Shared Opportunities," the event features a main mayoral dialogue, two scenario dialogues, and three activities focused on civilizational exchange and mutual learning. During the event, guests visited Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the world's largest port by throughput, as well as Ningbo Yaji Logistics Co., Ltd., Ningbo PIA Automation Holding Corp., Peacebird Group, Dongqian Lake and the Old Bund. At the forefront of intelligent port logistics and in smart workshops where embodied robots are produced, they explored how cities can achieve high-level openness and identify future opportunities.

At the main venue, 14 cooperation projects were signed in areas including friendly exchanges, economic and trade cooperation, science and technology education, and cultural tourism. They included the establishment of friendly exchange relations between Yuyao City in Zhejiang and Errachidia, Morocco, and between Yinzhou District of Ningbo and the Canton of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France. The "Ningbo Consensus on Collaborative Development" was also released, calling on cities to uphold openness and connectivity, deepen industrial collaboration, promote people-to-people ties, and work together to maintain the stability and smooth flow of industrial and supply chains.

Joachim Moyse, vice president of the Rouen Metropolitan Area and mayor of the Canton of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France, said: "When the world makes it easy for people to lose hope, we must sit down together all the more and jointly build a framework for peace. Because peace is the great prerequisite for all cooperation." He also wanted to take a "gift" home from Ningbo: the city's broad vision of caring for all social strata and building the city around people's needs. Moyse said this is precisely the "Chinese experience" he wants to bring back to France and share with his compatriots.

Located in eastern Zhejiang, Ningbo is home to Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, the world's largest port. It is also an international gateway for openness and an advanced manufacturing base, long known by the saying, "Books preserve the past and present, and the port connects the world." The event features a seven-section exhibition, "Ningbo and the World: Global Chinese Culture with Overseas Ningbo Companies," showcasing Ningbo's achievements in promoting two-way economic and trade connectivity and people-to-people ties, with culture as the bond, enterprises as the mainstay and the port as the foundation. At the Night of Ningbo event, Ningbo's Siming Library and classic books selected by visitors are placed together in the Tianyi Pavilion, one of the world's three oldest family libraries, bearing witness to friendships between cities that span mountains and seas.