Above: Suining City Deputy Mayor Hu Jiazheng (left) shakes hands with Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada after the signing of the friendship MoU at Provincial Hall on June 27.

Phuket gained one more “sister city” from China this week after representatives from Suining, in the Chinese province Sichuan, signed a friendship Memorandum of Association (MoU) on June 27.

Chinese delegates led by Suining City Deputy Mayor Hu Jiazheng met with Phuket Governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada and other officials to sign the MoU at Provincial Hall.

Among the Chinese representatives were China International Friendship Association (CIFA) Sichuan President Zhao Ping, CIFA Sichuan Secretary Xiang Qionghua and CIFA Suining President Luo Qinglun.

Above: Suining, the Chinese province Sichuan, signed a friendship Memorandum of Association (MoU) on June 27.

Phuket officials present at the signing were Phuket Provincial Public Relations Chief Buthsaya Jaipiem, Phuket Provincial Passport Office Chief Supachok Yensrong, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket Deputy Director Uthit Limsakul, Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansupana, Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Phuket Campus Deputy Director Prof Puwadon Butrat and Chinese Consulate in Phuket Deputy Consul General Wang Huijuan.

“The MoU we signed today indicates the foreign affairs relations between Phuket and Suining, China, and it confirms our relationship. After we met and discussed the possibility of being sister cities, we decided to go ahead with the idea,” Governor Chamroen said after the meeting.

“We both agreed that being sister cities will benefit us and that we can help each other to move forward to the future together and boost tourism together.

Above: Phuket is already twinned with nine other places worldwide.

“This also will be an opportunity for us to seek knowledge and exchange many aspects of culture, businesses, marketing, education and more to help us improve our human resources,” he said.

Phuket is already twinned with nine other places worldwide: Bali; Nice in France; Port Blair in the Andaman Islands; Las Vegas; the Crimea in Ukraine; Nakhodka in Russia; and Hainan, Yantai and Ningxia in China.

Above: Two countries can help each other to move forward to the future together and boost tourism together.

Source: The Phuket News