In the afternoon on January 12, 2018, the Mayor of Xiangyang City, Qi Yingcai met with the friendly government economic and trade delegation led by Mario Alberdo Issy, the Mayor of Jose Perth City of Argentina, and two sides communicated with each other on further strengthening the mutual cooperation and enhancing the mutual friendship.

On behalf of Xiangyang Municipal Party Committee, Xiangyang Municipal People's Government and Xiangyang People, Qi Yingcai extended a warm welcome to the delegation. He said that Xiangyang City, as the sub-center city of Hubei Province and the center city in Hanjiang River Basin, has formed a modern industry system led by the industry of automobile and automobile parts and supported by industries of modern equipment manufacturing, intensive processing of agricultural product, new energy automobile, new energy materials, electronic information and pharmaceutical chemicals. Jose Perth City of Argentina is the first city in South America establishing affiliation with Xiangyang City, and two cities may have huge space for cooperation in automobile, high-end equipment manufacturing, and agricultural product and by product processing.

In February last year, the Major Issy led the government delegation visiting Xiangyang City, and discussed with automobile enterprises in Xiangyang City in terms of the new energy automobile trade cooperation, which provided an important opportunity for further cooperation between two cities. Qi Yingcai expressed that he hoped that both two cities would take full advantage of the platform of establishing sister cities, strengthen the publicity of sister cities, enhance the local people-to-people and cultural exchanges between two cities, and expand the cooperation in medical treatment, science and education, sports and other areas to realize a win-win result and let people in two cities practically experience the benefit brought by the establishment of sister cities.

Issy said that he came to China in 1999, and he believed that during a subsequent dozen years, China had had miraculous changes; even though the distance between two cities is far away, the mutual exchange and communication has not been impeded. He hoped that the cooperation in the future would be closer and smoother, and he also invited enterprises in Xiangyang City to carry out investigation and development in Jose Perth City.

The deputy mayor, Liu Hengyou attended the meeting.