A roundtable on deepening sister-city ties between Qingdao, Shandong province and Mannheim in southwestern Germany is held in Mannheim on April 24. [Photo/WeChat account: gh_d778d44cc6f3]

A roundtable on deepening sister-city ties between Qingdao, Shandong province and Mannheim in southwestern Germany was held in Mannheim on April 24, attracting about 100 people from the two sides.

Mannheim is Qingdao's first sister city in Germany, and since the two established friendly cooperation ties in 1995, they have enjoyed fruitful exchanges and cooperation in various fields, forging a deep friendship. Qingdao is an industrial city with an open mind and brimming with vitality. The city has beefed up efforts to expand its higher-level opening-up and promote high-quality development, said Zhao Haozhi, mayor of Qingdao.

Zhao expressed hopes of further deepening practical cooperation with Mannheim in the fields of economy, technology, culture, and tourism, believing that with the joint efforts of all sectors, the friendly relations between the two cities will continue to reach new heights.

Huang Yiyang, Chinese consul general in Frankfurt, spoke highly of the Mannheim city government's efforts to deepen sister-city ties with Qingdao. He noted that the roundtable has pioneered a new model of local cooperation between China and Germany and provided an excellent platform for better exploring cooperation and seizing opportunities.

Christian Specht, mayor of Mannheim, highly praised the development of the sister-city relationship between Mannheim and Qingdao. He introduced Mannheim's economic characteristics and regional advantages, stating that the city is becoming an increasingly popular destination for investment and welcomes Chinese companies to take root there. Mannheim is actively promoting green transformation and aims to become one of the world's first cities to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. There is enormous potential for cooperation with China in green development and other areas.

Over the past several decades, the two cities have carried out numerous cooperative projects. Mannheim and Qingdao share many similarities in areas such as green development, transportation logistics, port construction, and innovation.

Mannheim is the second largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It boasts convenient transportation, serving as a crucial node for the China Railway Express and possessing the second largest inland port in Europe.

Qingdao and Mannheim formally signed a sister-city relationship agreement in 2016. Over the years, there have been frequent high-level visits between the two sides, with more than 40 government delegations exchanged for visits in various fields including economy, culture, arts, and youth exchanges.