Riccardo Busi, president of FIAP, speaks via video at the opening ceremony of the 2021 Lishui Photography Festival on Nov 17. [Photo/Organizing Committee of Lishui Photography Festival]

The city of Lishui – located in East China's Zhejiang province – will become the permanent venue for the World Photographers Conference, following a statement on Nov 17 made via video by Riccardo Busi, president of the International Federation of Photographic Art, or FIAP, at the opening ceremony of the 2021 Lishui Photography Festival.

In the run-up to this year's festival, FIAP and the Lishui municipal government forged a framework cooperation agreement which will come into force in 2022. That's when the two will jointly host the World Photographers Conference, a six-day biennial event. 

Lishui is a leading ecological city in China and the first city in the country to be named "The Hometown of Photography". In 2004, Jacques Denis, former vice president of FIAP, gave high praise to Lishui. "The world's photography is enriched by Lishui and Lishui will surely become the most desirable place for photographers all over the world," he declared.

Since 2017, FIAP has set up a medal that is awarded during the International Digital Photography Art Exhibition organized by Lishui, to jointly commend outstanding photographers from around the world.

Lishui has since 1999 been holding various international and national photography activities, making photography a well-known brand worldwide for the city.