Mr. Hua Yuan, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Visited Istanbul to Celebrate the Upcoming 35th Anniversary of Our Sister City Relations

Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul, and Mr. Hua Yuan, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, celebrated the upcoming 35th anniversary of the sister city relations between Istanbul and Shanghai at the City Hall. At this special occasion, the long-established relations between the two cities and plans for the future were discussed. Following the meeting, Mr. Hua and his delegation met the IMM delegation led by Mr. Can Akın Çağlar, Secretary General of IMM.

Experiencing the cultural and artistic richness of Istanbul, the 11-person delegation from the Shanghai Municipality had various contacts with our Municipality. Vice Mayor Hua met Mr. Barbaros Büyüksağnak, Head of the Foreign Relations Department, and Prof. Dr. Tuğba Ölmez Hancı, Head of the Department of Parks, Gardens and Green Areas. At the Istanbul-Shanghai Sisterhood Park, the delegations planted magnolia trees, which serves as the symbol of Shanghai and represents loyalty, purity, and elegance in Chinese culture.

After these events, the delegation, along with Mr. Barbaros Büyüksağnak, Head of the Foreign Relations Department, and Hon. Mr. Wei Xiaodong, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Istanbul, convened at the Confucius Institute at Boğaziçi University (CIBU) and celebrated 35 years of cooperation between Shanghai and Istanbul, the 15th anniversary of the Confucius Institute, and the International Chinese Language Day.

On the final day of their visit, the delegation from Shanghai visited Kumport in Beylikdüzü and made observations.