At the invitation of the Chinese Embassy in Benin, a six-people delegation led by mayor of Abomey-Calavi City, Benin visited Ningxia from August 29 to 31. Officials from relevant departments in Ningxia had discussions with the delegation. Bai Yuzhen, Director-General of the Ningxia Foreign Affairs Office, noted that Ningxia and Benin have a long-standing friendship. With rich resources and distinctive specialty industries, Ningxia is highly complementary to and enjoys great cooperation potentials with Benin in many areas. She expressed her hope that the delegation would take this visit as an opportunity to further enhance mutual understanding, tap cooperation potentials, and advance practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges in both intergovernmental and nongovernmental sectors between Ningxia and Benin.

Angelo Evariste Ahouandjinou, mayor of Abomey-Calavi City, together with other mayors from Benin, thanked Ningxia for its efforts to promote sub-national exchanges with Benin and spoke highly of Ningxia’s economic and social achievements. Recognizing Ningxia’s broad prospects, they said Ningxia is a place full of opportunities and offers a glimpse of China’s progress. The delegation is willing to fully leverage its role as a bridge to promote bilateral cooperation in areas including agriculture and friendship cities, jointly writing a new chapter in cooperation.

A leading official from the Ningxia Health Commission briefed the delegation on Ningxia’s exchanges with Benin in healthcare. Officials from Wuzhong City and Zhongwei City of Ningxia introduced the two cities’ economic and social development respectively. The two sides also had in-depth exchanges on bilateral cooperation in fields such as healthcare and friendship cities.

During their stay in Ningxia, the delegation also visited the First People’s Hospital of Yinchuan City, Ningxia Xiaoming Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd. and had discussions with relevant personal on telemedicine, modern agriculture, etc.