New Westminster – The City of New Westminster signed a formal friendship city agreement with YunFu, China today. The agreement formalizes the relationship between the two cities established through a joint Memorandum of Understanding last summer to foster mutual understanding and promote economic development and cultural exchange opportunities.

“We’re very proud to formalize our friendship city status with YunFu, China with this ceremony today,” said Wayne Wright, Mayor of New Westminster. “We are especially honoured to host the YunFu delegation in our city as we celebrate our 150th anniversary this year.”

Ms. Li Li Wang, Vice-Mayor, signed the agreement on behalf of the People’s Government of YunFu Municipality. Following the signing ceremony, Vice-Mayor Wang and Mayor Wright planted a tree in Friendship Garden beside City Hall to commemorate the new relationship between New Westminster and YunFu.

“Our delegation has come to the beautiful city of New Westminster to join in your 150th celebrations and establish our important friendship city relationship,” said Li Li Wang, Vice Mayor of YunFu. “May the agreement we are signing today strengthen the ties between our great cities and countries.”

The City of New Westminster has worked to establish ties with several cities in Asia over the past two decades. The City currently enjoys formal sister city status with Lijiang, China, Quezon, Philippines, and Moriguchi, Japan and has established friendship city status with two cities in China, Zhenjiang and YunFu.

YunFu City profile:

Situated in Guandong Province, YunFu City enjoys a subtropical monsoon climate. The city has an average temperature of 21.5 degrees centigrade and annual rainfall volume reaching 1,202mm. Covering an area of nearly 8,000 square kilometres, YunFu has more than 830,000 hectares of farmland. The city’s current population is more than 2.6 million, including an urban population of 762,100 and 1.7 million farmers. Abundant in natural resources, YunFu has more than 50 mineral reserves and is a major marble and stone production base on the Chinese mainland. YunFu's agricultural products are also well-known both at home and abroad.

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Contact:
Blair Fryer, Communications Manager
604-527-4688