The mayor of Macerata in Italy led a delegation to visit Taicang, Jiangsu province on Dec 4, aiming to deepen cooperation with the Chinese city.

Wang Jianguo, mayor of Taicang, met the Italian delegation.

Wang briefed them on Taicang's economic and social development and reviewed the city's friendly exchanges with Macerata.

After the two cities forged a relationship of sister cities in 2016, both sides have organized more than 10 exchange activities involving culture, education, sports, trade and the economy.

Wang hopes that the two sides will take advantage of this visit to bring their friendly exchanges to a higher level.

Romano Carancini, mayor of Macerata, said that Macerata and Taicang share much common ground. Both sides value environmental protection, and focus on developing the education and cultural industries and improving local residents' well-being.

Carancini expects to maintain the friendly relations with Taicang.

During the meeting, the two mayors inked a memorandum of understanding on deepening cooperation in education, economy, culture and sports, as well as urban construction.

According to the memorandum, Taicang and Macerata will carry out exchanges between their schools, organize annual cultural festivals, and Taicang will introduce high quality products made in Italy.

Yongfeng village in Taicang also plans to introduce wine grapes and planting techniques from the Italian city to prepare for the development of the local wine making industry.