Nantong participants of the online signing ceremony on Sept 9. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province signed an agreement to establish sister-city relations with the municipality of Zvezdara in Belgrade, Serbia on Sept 9.

The two places will carry out exchanges and cooperation in trade, science, culture, tourism, sports, education and environmental protection, according to the agreement.

Before the signing ceremony, Wu Xinming, mayor of Nantong, spoke about the city's economic and social development.

Wu said that both Zvezdara and Nantong boast robust development and he hopes that the two places will share development opportunities, promote close economic cooperation and deepen people-to-people exchanges.

Participants of the online signing ceremony in Serbia on Sept 9. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Vladan Jeremic, the head of Zvezdara, thanked Nantong for aiding its fight against COVID-19 and noted that Nantong had organized its enterprises and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce in Nantong to donate medical supplies to Zvezdara.

Jeremic expects more Chinese enterprises to invest in Zvezdara and further cooperation with Nantong in culture and education.

Tian Yishu, deputy head of the Chinese embassy in Serbia, noted that the embassy will continue supporting the exchanges and cooperation between the two sides and hopes that cooperation will be further deepened.

Nantong first established sister-city relations with a foreign city in 1987. It presently has sister-city relations with 27 cities from 17 countries and regions.