On November 10, based on full communication and negotiations, Fengdu County, Chongqing Municipality, China, and Guanajuato, State of Guanajuato, Mexico, held an online signing ceremony to establish friendship city relations.

Tang Shouyuan, Mayor of the People's Government of Fengdu County, signed an agreement to establish friendship city relations with Mario Alejandro Navarro, Mayor of Guanajuato. Wang Guangcheng, Vice President of Chongqing People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, presided over the signing ceremony.

According to the agreement, the two places will establish friendship-city relations to promote mutual understanding and friendly exchanges between the peoples. Based on the principle of equality and mutual benefit, they will use their respective resources to communicate actively and collaborate in the fields such as economy and trade, culture and art, tourism, education, and personnel, realizing mutual complementarity and promoting mutual complementarity the common development.

As Mario Alejandro Navarro, Mayor of Guanajuato mentioned in his speech, Guanajuato and Fengdu are both international tourist destinations and they share a deep tradition of ghostly legends and afterlife culture, manifested through different artistic means. The agreement to establish friendship-city relations will witness the friendship and provide the opportunities to learn from each other and cooperate to better build the two places.

Zhang Guozhong, Secretary of the Fengdu County Committee of the Communist Party of China, also said that: "Though separated by the Pacific Ocean, the two sides will be brought closer by the online signing ceremony. Under the planning and guidance of leaders of China and Mexico, the two sides are expected to effectuate contents in the agreement one by one and promote personnel exchanges, economic and trade exchanges, and common development. The two sides should strive for interaction, complementarity, mutually beneficial development and close relations, and considerable achievements through exchanges and cooperation."

Ricardo Bayeteros Guevas, head of political affairs at the Embassy of Mexico in China, expressed that the Embassy of Mexico in China is pleased to have been able to promote the establishment of friendship city relations between Fengdu and Guanajuato. "The agreement signed today is another example of the friendship, civil cooperation, and vitality of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. The interaction between local governments is becoming increasingly important. With the implementation of cooperation projects in various fields of economy, culture, tourism, and education, this agreement will bring good results to the people of Guanajuato and Fengdu in the near future."

Attendees of the signing ceremony included Ricardo Bayeteros Guevas, head of political affairs at the Embassy of Mexico in China Ruben Beltran Palafox, head of international cooperation of Economic and Commercial Department under the Embassy of Mexico in China, Mu Zhenwu, Member of Standing Committee of the CPC Fengdu County Committee and Deputy County Mayor, Li Yafang, Director of the Center for American Communication Studies under China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, Liu Shuangyan, Deputy Director of the Center for Western European and African Communication Studies under China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, as well as relevant heads from Fengdu and Guanajuato in foreign affairs, culture and tourism, education and other departments.

Fengdu County

Fengdu County lies in the center of Chongqing and is the heart of the Three Gorges Reservoir area. With a long history, Fengdu was the auxiliary capital of the ancient Ba state. Known as the "Ghost City" at home and abroad, it has inherited the culture characterized by "praising virtue and punishing vice for social harmony" for thousands of years. The county embraces abundant tourism resources, including more than 10% of the city's most valuable alpine tourism resources over 1,000 meters above sea level, as well as four 4A national tourist attractions like Mingshan Scenic Area and Xueyu Cave Scenic Area. Additionally, the county has obvious location advantages and a solid industrial foundation. With the focus on beef, the "1+6+X" special high-efficiency agriculture is developing steadily. The "one base and four clusters" eco-industry pattern is developing intensively and efficiently, with the new energy bases, light industry, electromechanics, medicine and medical equipment, and modern construction industry at the core.

Guanajuato

Guanajuato City, capital of the State of Guanajuato, is built by mountains 370 km northwest of Mexico City, capital of Mexico. Founded in 1554, the city was one of the world's largest silver-mining centers in the 16th century. In 1988, Guanajuato's old urban area and surrounding mining areas were rated as a world heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Guanajuato is a famous city for international cultural exchanges. Cervantes International Art Festival, a large-scale international cultural exchange festival, is a  bright brand of Guanajuato and Latin America.

"History of Our Friendship"

In December 2018, a delegation from Fengdu visited Guanajuato City, Mexico, to carry out in-depth cultural exchanges and tourism promotion activities, and the two sides signed the Letter of Intent to Establish Friendship City Relations Between Fengdu County, Chongqing, People's Republic of China, and Guanajuato City, State of Guanajuato, Mexico. The two sides agreed to strengthen cultural exchanges and communication through the Cervantes International Art Festival, the Day of the Dead in Guanajuato, and the Temple Fair in Fengdu. Since then, the two sides have started friendly exchanges and have been maintaining stable, friendly relations under the guidance of their governments and with the help of the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration.