The District is keeping China close.
At a Tuesday ceremony in Beijing, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray signed an agreement with leaders of the Chinese capital to maintain the sister city partnership between the two cities.
“I am thrilled that our relationship with the city of Beijing will be extended and expanded to focus not only on educational and cultural exchanges, but also on concrete actions that will result in economic development for the residents of both Beijing and the District,” Gray said in a statement.
Washington has had formal ties with Beijing since 1984, and the District constructed the Friendship Arch in Chinatown two years later.
“Over the past 28 years, the two cities have made exchanges economically through trade, culture, education and other fields,” Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong said. “As the capitals of the biggest developing country and the biggest developed country, the trade and cooperation between Beijing and Washington is especially significant.”
Gray signed the accord with Beijing during a weeklong economic development mission to China.
It’s far from the District’s only sister city arrangement. Washington also has similar agreements with 11 other cities, including Bangkok, Paris, Rome and Seoul.
