Montego Bay and Zhuhai officially began friendly exchanges and cooperation during a Feb 7 video conference held by representatives of the tourism-and-port cities.

Li Chong, deputy mayor of Zhuhai, and Leeroy Williams, mayor of Jamaica's Montego Bay, signed an agreement that has its roots in November 2019 when the Chinese Embassy and Chinese businesspeople in Jamaica arranged for a letter of intent to build relations.

Jamaica is located just south of Cuba and east of Haiti. Montego Bay, capital of the parish of St. James, is the second largest city on the island. As the largest tourism city in that tropical zone, its Sangster International Airport is the busiest in the Caribbean and its free port transfers containers from the Panama Canal.

Li Chong, deputy mayor of Zhuhai, displays letter of intent [Photo/WeChat account: ws07562125209]

Although English is the official language, most residents speak Jamaican Creole, a mixture of English and a variety of West African languages. The most prevalent foreign language is Chinese with 31,000 speakers.

Zhuhai has gained a good friend on the other side of the ocean, and Montego Bay has gained a good partner on the road of revitalization, said Zhuhai's Li. He expressed hope for mutually beneficial exchanges and cooperation in free trade, tourism, culture and art, economics, education, and epidemic control.

Williams said the letter of intent unites two countries and cities of different faiths and cultures and brings their people closer. Zhuhai and Montego Bay, he added, should have practical cooperation for the benefit of their peoples.

Jamaica Deputy Prime Minister Horace Anthony Chang bore witness to the signing ceremony and said that China and Jamaica have a long-standing friendship. He pictures the two vibrant cities having more face-to-face exchanges and cooperation in various fields after the COVID-19 pandemic fades.

According to Tian Qi, ambassador of China to Jamaica, the sister-city partnership is expected to mark a milestone in the friendly exchange between China and Jamaica, injecting new vitality into mutually beneficial cooperation.