In the city proper, on the morning of October 18, Ma Xuming, Deputy Secretary of Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Yichang met Choi Yang-sik, Mayor of Gyeongju, and Jung Seok-ho, Parliament Speaker of Gyeongju, South Korea. In the process of the meeting, Mr. Ma Xueming and Mr. Choi Yang-sik signed Cooperation Agreement between Friendly Cities. Zheng Xinhua, Deputy Mayor of Yichang presided over the ceremony.

　　Ma introduced the economic and social development of Yichang. He said, Yichang has the history of more than 2400 years and is a national model city and an excellent tourism city and is being constructed a metropolis at present. The signing of the agreement marks the official establishment of friendly cooperation relationship and a new bridge of friendship between China and South Korea. He hoped that Yichang and Gyeongju could create better future together.

　　Mr. Choi Yang-sik said that Yichang is a beautiful city with pleasant ecological environment, rapid economic development and world-famous Three Gorges Project, which left deep impression on him during the visit. Meanwhile, he also said that, based on historical origin between China and South Korea, Gyeongju and Yichang become sister cities to further deepen exchange and cooperation in the field of economy, culture, education and tourism in future.

　　Gyeongju is located in the southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It is a famous historical and world-famous cultural tourism city, covering an area of 13,000 square kilometers with a population of 300,000. Yichang began the communication with Gyeongju in 2011, when Uiduk University and China Three Gorges University signed the cooperation agreement of interschool exchange, and both sides mutually sent teachers to give lectures. In the same year, Municipal Government Delegation from Yichang visited Gyeongju. And Yichang is the third city in China to establish friendship with Gyeongju after Xi’an and Yangzhou.

　　(Reporter Zheng Guanghua)