Photograph of the meeting

Candid exchanges build broad consensus, and sincere communication deepens pragmatic cooperation. Yesterday, the 2025 Dalian Friendship Exchange Roundtable was held at the Shangri-La Hotel. More than 100 representatives of local governments from relevant countries and representatives of Dalian honorary citizen enterprises and friendship groups gathered together to share friendship, discuss cooperation and seek common development. Chen Shaowang, deputy secretary of the municipal party committee and mayor, attended and delivered a speech. Vice Mayor Leng Xuefeng presided over the meeting, and city leaders Guo Tiejun and Meng Changgong and municipal government secretary general Tang Yi attended the meeting.

On behalf of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, Chen Shaowang expressed his sincere welcome and heartfelt thanks to the guests who attended the meeting. He said that Dalian has thoroughly implemented Xi Jinping's important exposition on promoting high-level opening up, fully implemented the spirit of the Central Peripheral Work Conference, deepened all-round, multi-field, in-depth, and high-level opening up, and accelerated the construction of a high-level open gateway hub with smooth internal and external connections. We have promoted the deepening of reform through opening up, promulgated the Regulations on the Promotion of Foreign Investment in Dalian, and strived to create a market-oriented, legal and international first-class business environment. We have been rated as a benchmark city for international business environment four times. We promote institutional innovation through openness, focus on the three characteristic industries of port and shipping logistics, new energy, and international health care to promote the integration and upgrading of free trade zones, and provide investors with broad development space. We have promoted trade cooperation through opening up. In the first quarter of this year, Dalian's economy grew by 6.2%, foreign trade by 13.3% and foreign investment by 90.8%. We expand our "circle of friends" through openness. The 2024 Dalian Summer Davos Forum will attract more than 1,600 representatives from all walks of life from more than 80 countries and regions to gather in Dalian. The city's international influence and reputation will be further enhanced, providing opportunities for international exchanges and cooperation. Better platform.

Chen Shaowang said that those who meet with each other with their hearts will last for a long time. The revitalization and development of Dalian can't be separated from the full support and cooperation of friends from all walks of life. I hope you can walk around and see more, and deeply feel Dalian's urban charm, innovation power, open vitality and development potential. I hope everyone will continue to promote people-to-people communication, industrial connectivity, unimpeded trade and financial financing, and enhance the level of exchanges and cooperation. I hope everyone will actively promote Dalian, introduce more enterprises to invest in Dalian, and achieve win-win development.

At the meeting, the following individuals delivered remarks: Takuya Tasso, Governor of Iwate Prefecture, Japan; Yermek Marzhikpayev, Governor of Akmola Region, Kazakhstan; Gonçalo Lopes, Chairman of Leiria Region and Mayor of Leiria, Portugal; Yook Dong-han, Mayor of Chuncheon, South Korea; Dmitry Sherba, Deputy Chairman of the Brest City Executive Committee, Belarus; Katsumi Koga, Chairman of NPO Japan Sea International Exchange Center; Stephen Conette, CEO of Dalian Eurodesign Yacht Manufacturing Co., Ltd.; Gao Hanrong, General Manager of Fuller Ma Hongkai (Dalian) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Zhang Yunfeng, Vice President of the Cambodia-China Friendship Association; and Sergey Kortov, Vice-Rector of Ural Federal University. Yasuhiro Sato, Special Advisor of Mizuho Financial Group, Chairman of the Japan-China Investment Promotion Organization, and Chairman of the China Committee of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), delivered remarks via video. They engaged in in-depth discussions on deepening practical cooperation with Dalian in areas such as economy and trade, education, science and technology, culture and tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, and put forward constructive opinions and suggestions.