Between November 14 and 16, the China International Friendship Cities Conference 2018, co-sponsored by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the China International Friendship Cities Association and the Wuhan Municipal People's Government, was held in Wuhan. Shen Lian, deputy director of Changzhou Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, attended the meeting.

The conference was attended by 800 delegates from 60 international friendship cities. With the theme of “sharing development opportunities and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation,� the conference held in-depth discussions on topics such as “modernization, internationalization and ecologicalization� and shared the successful experiences of friendship city development.

Wang Qishan, vice president of China, attended the conference and delivered a keynote speech. Uganda vice president Edward Ssekandi and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama addressed the conference.

At the awarding ceremony of the conference, Changzhou and its Finnish friendship city Satakunta Region were respectively honored the International Friendship City Cooperation Award and the Friendship City for Exchange and Cooperation with China.