On the morning of September 25, the first meeting of the Joint Committee for Cooperation and Development between Fuzhou and Tacoma city of the United States was held in the form of online meeting. You Mengjun, mayor of Fuzhou and Victoria Woodards, mayor of Tacoma attended and addressed the meeting. Other participants included officials of foreign affairs, commerce, education, free trade zone, port, cultural tourism, sports and other relevant fields.

On behalf of the Fuzhou Municipal People’s Government and Fuzhou people, Mayor You Mengjun extended sincere greetings and best wishes to Mayor Woodards and the people of Tacoma. “Since the two cities established the sister-city relation, the two sides have conducted in-depth and extensive exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture, education and sports and achieved a series of achievements. We hope that the two sides will make good use of the Joint Committee, further enhance mutual understanding, seize opportunities and draw on each other's strengths, so as to achieve mutually beneficial results in the fields of economy, trade, science, technology and logistics and continue the two cities’ friendly exchanges.” Said Mayor You.

Mayor Woodards pointed out that the dialogue between Tacoma and Fuzhou at a critical time in the global fight against COVID-19 was of unusual positive significance; at present, Tacoma was working hard to overcome the adverse impact of the pandemic and promote its economic and social development, and looked to continuing the friendly tie and further strengthening friendly exchanges and practical cooperation in various fields between the two cities.

Participating departments of the two cities exchanged views on how to carry out all-round exchanges and cooperation in the next stage, put forward a number of practical suggestions and agreed to actively expand investment and seek new trade channels, strengthen cooperation in cross-border e-commerce projects, and carry out port personnel exchange as well as sports programs.

        Fuzhou and Tacoma officially established sister-city relation in 1994. Since then, the two cities have exchanged around 100 delegations, gained fruitful results from exchanges and cooperation in multiple fields, and won several awards from the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and China International Federation of Friendship Cities. The Joint Committee for Cooperation and Development between Fuzhou and Tacoma is a consultation and cooperation mechanism established by the two cities in 2019, aiming to coordinate the exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture, education and sports between the two cities.