Lou Qinjian, secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, met Sunday in Nanjing with Daniel Andrews, Australian State of Victoria Premier.
Lou extended his warm welcome to Andrews for his visit to Jiangsu in the wake of his attending the 2nd "Belt and Road" Forum for International Cooperation for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of twinning relationship between the two regions. He also expressed his appreciation to Premier Andrews for his contribution to the development of the friendly relations between the two regions.
Lou noted that President Xi Jinping’s important speech at the second "Belt and Road"Forum for International Cooperation pointed out the direction for China to expand a new round of high-level opening up.
The State of Victoria is the first friendly region Jiangsu has twinned in history, Lou Qinjian said, adding that in the past 40 years, Jiangsu and Victoria have achieved fruitful cooperation with the cooperation mechanism between the two sides becoming more sound, the cooperation field made wider and the people's hearts drawing closer, making it a model of regional communication between China and Australia.
The CPC Provincial chief said Jiangsu is willing to work with Victoria to take the 40th anniversary as a new starting point, seize the opportunity of the Belt and Road initiative, establish a sound mechanism, strengthen pragmatic cooperation and expand cooperation areas, especially in new energy, technological innovation, and ecological protection, education, tourism, people-to-people exchanges and youth exchanges so as to consolidate the friendship between the two sides, and make greater efforts to promote the development of friendly relations.
Andrews said that he is very happy to visit Jiangsu for the third time. Jiangsu is a model of reform, opening up and high-quality development and an old friend and true friend of Victoria, he added.
The Premier of Victoria State said 40-year friendly relationship has strengthened the friendly cooperation between the province and the state, and has strengthened the friendship between the two sides.
He remarked that the Belt and Road contains tremendous opportunities for development, adding that Victoria State will give full play to its strengths and work together with Jiangsu to make greater contributions to deepening cooperation and friendship between the two sides.
