(Seychelles News Agency) - Residents in Seychelles are expected to benefit from more educational exchanges with Zhoushan, China following the signing of a new agreement between the city and Victoria, the capital of Seychelles.

The Mayor of Victoria, David Andre, and the Secretary of Zhoushan Municipal Committee, Yu Donglai, signed an agreement called ‘Establishing Friendly Exchange City Relations’ on Friday.

The agreement will enable the two cities to identify activities that can generate new initiatives to further nurture the economic, social and cultural ties which Seychelles – a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean -- and China share.

“This is the fifth twinning agreement signed with China. The twinning agreement between Victoria and the city of Zhoushan in China is basically what we call a sister city agreement where it connects people rather than just the government on a higher level exchange,” said Andre.

The signing took place at the Mayor’s office in Victoria on the main island of Mahe. Previous agreements have been signed with Haikou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Wuhan.

The Mayor of Victoriaand the Secretary of Zhoushan Municipal Committee siging an agreement called ‘Establishing Friendly Exchange City Relations’ (Salifa Karapetyan, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

Andre said that Seychelles has previously benefitted under such agreements with a grant of Christmas lights, currently used to decorate the city during the festive season. He added that Seychellois are also following a training program in these sister cities around the world to get experiences in different fields.

The Secretary of Zhoushan Municipal Committee, Yu Donglai, said through his translator, “that collaborations will be extended to agriculture and fisheries after having held a meeting with the relevant local ministry.”

“We talked a lot about collaboration in these areas and I think we are all looking forward to having more collaboration in areas of society and economy. This agreement between the two cities can promote these collaborations and also the communication between the people of our two cities,” said Donglai.

Andre told the press that such agreements are part of a global movement called ‘The United Cities and Local Government’.

“The movement is aimed at getting people in different countries to know each other better to be able to have friendly exchanges and this can be in the field of culture, tourism or businesses and which in term will have an impact and positive influence around the world connecting people,” said Andre.