Yantai is looking to deepen cooperation with foreign cities and establish sister relations and friendly cooperative partnerships with more cities over the next few years.

Zhang Huanwei, director of the Yantai municipal foreign affairs office, introduced these objectives at a news conference on May 14.

According to Zhang, Yantai currently has sister relations and friendly cooperation partnerships with 30 cities in 17 countries. It established its first sister city relationship with San Diego, the United States in 1985.

To promote mutual exchanges, the city annually hosts more than 10 overseas promotional conferences focusing on emerging sectors such as marine economy, biotechnology, equipment manufacturing and aerospace.

More than 30 cultural exchange activities related to tourism, traditional culture, sports, expositions and youth communication are also launched every year to foster deeper international relations.

Zhang said that the city will strive to establish three to five sister city relations every year as well as have more than 40 sister cities and friendly cooperation ties with over 20 countries by 2022.