ISTANBUL, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's western port city of Izmir looks forward to more effective and productive relations with Chinese cities in the post-pandemic era, city mayor Tunc Soyer has said here.
Izmir has long been working to strengthen the bonds between Turkish and Chinese people through culture, art and sports, Soyer told Xinhua in a recent interview. "We intend to create opportunities through which our children, producers and villagers would come together and exchange experiences with each other."
"We then plan to improve our cooperation in the fields of trade, industry and technology built over this solid and sound relations," he added, noting that such strong public ties help build up more sustainable relations between the two countries.
Soyer pointed out that he has established "a very good dialogue" with the mayor of Izmir's sister city Chengdu in southwest China before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, and that the two municipalities have then decided to open offices in each other's city.
Due to the pandemic, however, "we had to postpone this project." Nevertheless, the excitement has continued, the mayor said. "We will keep pursuing our plan as planned and even stronger as soon as the pandemic ends."
Last year, the Izmir International Fair, one of the most comprehensive commercial fairs in Turkey, opened with China as a partner country. Within the scope of the fair, Izmir and Chengdu signed a memorandum of understanding at the Izmir Business Days to improve their relations even further as well as to establish partnership and cooperation. Enditem
