On October 13th, 1993, our province and Tochigi established friendly relations between provinces and counties. Since the establishment, the two sides have carried out colorful exchanges and cooperation in the fields of politics, economy, science and technology, culture, sports and news, and achieved gratifying results.
First, friendly exchanges
1, high-level leaders between provinces and counties exchange visits and personnel exchanges
Since the establishment of friendly relations between provinces and counties, senior leaders of successive governments, people’s congresses, parliaments and friendship associations in the two provinces and counties have basically exchanged visits.
In 1989, a delegation of Zhejiang Provincial Government headed by Vice Governor Xu Xingguan visited Tochigi.
In 1990, Tochigi Governor Fumio Watanabe visited our province.
In 1993, a delegation of Zhejiang Provincial Government headed by Governor Wan Xueyuan visited Tochigi.
In 1994, Tochigi Governor Fumio Watanabe and Parliament Speaker Ji Chengjian visited Zhejiang.
In 1997, Tochigi Governor Fumio Watanabe visited Zhejiang.
In 2000, a delegation of Zhejiang Provincial Government headed by Governor Chai Songyue visited Tochigi Prefecture.
In 2001, Tochigi Governor Akio Fukuda led a delegation to visit Zhejiang.
In 2003, Tochigi Governor Akio Fukuda led a delegation to visit Zhejiang.
In 2004, Zhang Mengjin, executive vice governor and his party visited Tochigi Prefecture.
In October, 2005, Tochigi Governor Fukuda and Parliament Speaker Hirofumi Kimura led a government delegation and a parliamentary delegation to visit our province respectively. 12. Tochigi Governor Fukuda led a delegation to attend the China-Japan Tourism Exchange Conference held in Hangzhou.
In 2006, Deputy Governor of Tochigi Prefecture visited Zhejiang.
In 2007, Xia Baolong, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, led a friendly delegation from Zhejiang Province to visit Tochigi County.
2. It has promoted the work of our province and the local friendship city of Tochigi County.
Driven by the provincial sister-city relationship, Jinhua City, Quzhou City and Tiantai County of our province have established friendly exchange relations with Tochigi City, Sano City and Iwacho-CHO of Tochigi Prefecture respectively.
Second, economic and technological exchanges and cooperation
Since the establishment, the two provinces and counties have carried out various forms of exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, technology and trade, and achieved practical results in enterprise diagnosis, technical guidance, information exchange and variety exchange, which promoted each other’s economic development.
In April 1992, Hangsong Printing Co., Ltd., the first joint venture in Tochigi, Zhejiang Province, was established in Hangzhou. The total investment of the project is $740,000. Since 1991, the Tochigi County Enterprise Diagnosis Team has conducted technical diagnosis for 12 enterprises including Zhejiang Bus Factory in our province for three consecutive years, and achieved good results. At present, Tochigi Prefecture has set up four joint ventures in our province.
III. Exchanges and cooperation in agriculture
Since the establishment, the two provinces and counties have carried out various forms of exchanges and cooperation in the agricultural field, especially the joint research on greenhouse cultivation of grapes, fertilized egg transplantation of cattle, quality identification of beer wheat, pear breeding and other projects, with remarkable results, and many agricultural varieties have been exchanged so far.
IV. Exchanges and cooperation in personnel training
Over the years, through government and non-governmental channels, our province has sent more than 80 technical trainees, 8 international exchange staff and accepted more than 30 Chinese trainees in Tochigi County. After returning to China, these trainees participated in technology development and application, and became the backbone of all walks of life.
V. Cultural and sports exchanges
Cultural, sports and artistic groups in our province and Tochigi Prefecture have frequently exchanged visits and exchanges for many years, and held marathon, Go, table tennis and other competitions, such as the West Lake Osmanthus Marathon. The “China-Japan Gateball Friendly Tournament” was held many times between the elderly in the two provinces. Athletes from Tochigi County have come to our province to participate in the West Lake Osmanthus Marathon every year since 1990, and athletes from our province have gone to Tochigi County to participate in the Tochigi Leaf Marathon since 1992.
VI. Communication among teenagers
Tochigi Prefecture has organized youth delegations to visit our province every other year since 1991. During my stay in our province, young people in Tochigi visited enterprises, farms, universities, primary schools, kindergartens and welfare facilities, participated in youth parties, and had various and colorful exchanges with young people in our province, which promoted mutual understanding and friendship and achieved good results. The main members of the youth delegation are social youths and college students who are active in various fields. Now it has become an important bridge for exchanges between Zhejiang and Tochigi provinces.
VII. News exchange
The news media exchanges between the two provinces and counties are active. In September, 1991, Zhejiang Daily established a friendly exchange relationship with Ueno News Agency in Tochigi Prefecture. In December 1991, Zhejiang Radio established friendly communication relations with Tochigi Broadcasting. Since then, Zhejiang Radio and Tochigi have exchanged programs every month.
Eight, build a friendly club.
In November, 1997, the Du Fu Building in Huajiashanzhuang, a friendship club between our province and Tochigi Prefecture, was completed, which provided a good exchange base for friendly exchanges between the two sides.
IX. Others
When our province suffered from floods and typhoons, the Tochigi prefectural government and friendly groups donated a total of about 7.4 million yen.
The new government building in Tochigi Prefecture will be put into use in January 2008. In November 2007, our province presented souvenirs with Zhejiang characteristics (bamboo screens in Dongyang, pearl handicrafts in Zhuji, etc.) to the international friendly exchange exhibition corner on the first floor of the building.