Gwangyang in South Korea and Shenzhen officially became sister cities with an agreement signed and sealed at Wuzhou Guesthouse on Monday (Oct 11).

Lee Seong-Woong, mayor of Gwangyang City, arrived in Shenzhen last weekend with a government delegation to sign the agreement and attend the Sixth China Hi-Tech Fair.

Citing a well known Chinese fable of the Foolish Old Man who removed mountains with dogged perseverance, Lee said after signing the agreement that he was confident of bright prospects for closer cooperation with Shenzhen in fields such as the economy, arts, culture, education, science and technology, trade and port construction despite some unexpected difficulties and challenges.

Shenzhen Mayor Li Hongzhong said the sister cities could learn from each other and seek joint development because Shenzhen had many similarities with Gwangyang City in industry structure, geographic advantages and economic status.

Known as a sunshine city in South Korea, Gwangyang is in the south of the country, covering an area of 443.25 square kilometers with a population of 114,000. It is one of the most important seaports in South Korea.

In 2000, Gwangyang City entered exchange programs with Shenzhen. In June this year, Mayor Li Hongzhong visited Gwangyang City and signed a draft agreement with Lee Seong-Woong on the sister city relationship.

Shenzhen has friendship exchange relationships with 12 international cities.

Editor: Donald