TCS

On April 25, 2023, Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) Secretary-General Amb. OU Boqian led the delegation of the "Culture City of East Asia (CCEA)" Media and Internet Celebrities Tour (the CCEA Tour) to visit Yangzhou, China, as the third stop of the tour program. The delegation met with Mr. WANG Jinjian, Party Secretary of Yangzhou city. The two sides exchanged views on further promoting cultural and economic exchanges between Yangzhou and its friendship cities in Japan and Republic of Korea. Mr. RO Jae-hun, President of Korean East Asia Culture Center, Mr. ZHANG Litao, Mr. LIU Liu, Vice Mayors of Yangzhou, CHE Guohua, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Yangzhou were present at the meeting.

SG OU expressed gratitude to Mr. WANG for Yangzhou's great support to the CCEA Tour. She stressed that Yangzhou city boasts a long history and splendid culture, stunning natural ecological environment, and solid economic development. She hoped that the friendship cities among the three countries would deepen their ties, expand their consensus to promote economic and cultural exchange and cooperation to a new level. TCS, by fully leveraging the brand of CCEA, will continue to boost exchanges and cooperation among local provinces and cities in China, Japan, and Korea so as to deepen mutual understanding among the people of the three countries and promote lasting peace, common prosperity, and shared culture in this region.

Mr. WANG, on behalf of the Yangzhou Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government, welcomed SG OU and the CCEA Tour delegation. He briefly introduced the economic and social development of Yangzhou and pointed out that Yangzhou has a long history of cultural exchanges with Japan and Korea. He hoped that the CCEA Tour would exert positive impacts on deepening friendship among the people of the three countries. Mr. WANG noted that, with the support of TCS and Korean East Asia Culture Center, Yangzhou is willing to further strengthen cooperation with friendship cities in Japan and Korea in several areas such as the economy, culture, tourism, and gastronomy to write a new chapter of win-win cooperation.

*To mark the 10th anniversary of the first designation of “Culture City of East Asia”, TCS organizes the Tour in collaboration with governments of Yangzhou, Nara, and Gyeongju for 10 days. Participants from CJK major media outlets, we-media and culture organizations are invited for the tour to promote the city images, consolidate their culture ties and trilateral people-to-people exchanges, and explore the shared cultural values of East Asia. Yangzhou is the last stop of this tour program.