Sun Zhe, mayor of Harbin, capital of China's northernmost Heilongjiang province, met a delegation led by Katae Takashi, consul general of the Consulate-General of Japan in Shenyang, on Oct 28.
 
Sun extended a warm welcome to the delegates on behalf of the Harbin municipal government and carried out friendly exchanges.
 
Sun said that Harbin has long had close relations with Japanese cities such as Niigata and Asahikawa, and has carried out fruitful exchange and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, humanities, tourism, and culture, especially in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.
 
As next year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic ties, Sun expressed his hopes to further deepen friendly exchanges between Harbin and Japanese cities and organizations and carry out project cooperation in ice and snow tourism, culture and art, green food, and high-end equipment manufacturing.
 
Katae Takashi said that Japan and Harbin have a strong foundation for cooperation and great potential. He said he will give full play to the role of the Consulate-General of Japan in Shenyang in publicizing and recommending Harbin, and continue promoting cooperation between Japanese cities and Harbin in more areas.