On Monday, May 26, NEAR Secretary-General Lim attended the International Friendship Cities Cooperation and Exchange Week held at the Shandong International Hotel in Jinan, Shandong Province, where he offered his congratulations.
During his visit, Secretary-General Lim attended a group meeting and welcome dinner hosted by Party Secretary Lin Wu on May 26, as well as the official opening ceremony on Tuesday, May 27.
The group meeting was attended by Lin Wu, Party Secretary; Zhou Naixiang, Governor of Shandong; Ge Huijun, Chairwoman of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); Yang Dongqi, Deputy Director of the Shandong Provincial People’s Congress; Zhang Haibo, Vice Governor in charge of commerce; and Pan Bo, Secretary-General of the Provincial Party Committee.
On the sidelines of the event, Secretary-General Lim held meetings with Kanat Jumagaziev, Governor of Chui Region, Kyrgyzstan; Chow Kon Yeow, Chief Minister of Penang State, Malaysia; Jeon Hyung-sik, Vice Governor of Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea; Tran Van My, Vice Governor of Vinh Phuc Province, Vietnam; Husam Al Husseini, Ambassador of Jordan to China; Masashi Ogawa, Chairman of the China-Japan Friendship Association; Ryu Chang-soo, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Qingdao; Kenji Saito, Consul General of Japan in Qingdao; and Kazuhiro Ochi, Deputy Director of the Beijing Office of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR). Secretary-General Lim introduced NEAR and exchanged views on potential areas of cooperation.
In addition, Secretary-General Lim met with Cai Xianjin, Director-General of Foreign Affairs; Chen Baiwei, Deputy Director-General of Foreign Affairs; Sun Haisheng, Director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Science and Technology; and Zhang Peng, Vice Mayor of Heze City. He expressed appreciation for Shandong Province’s interest in and support for NEAR and requested continued engagement in future NEAR initiatives.
Meanwhile, the Shandong International Friendship Cities Cooperation and Exchange Week, hosted by the Shandong Provincial People’s Government, was held under the theme “Hands on hands for Shared Cooperation and Development.” A total of 26 events were organized, including an inauguration ceremony, dialogues among city leaders, and business matchmaking sessions. Over 200 delegations from local governments, enterprises, and related institutions in 33 countries participated in the event.