Sister cities summit helps bolster ties

Beijing willing to work with Washington to enhance people-to-people exchanges

A desire to deepen Sino-US ties at the local level and broaden bilateral cooperation was expressed by municipal leaders, businesspeople and diplomats from China and the United States as they gathered in Houston on Wednesday for the fourth US-China Sister Cities Mayors' Summit.

Participants in the summit, which was themed "Cities Mean Business", aims to "strengthen economic and cultural ties drawing on local development and leveraging networks across China and the US", said Ron Nirenberg, mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and chairman of Sister Cities International, the US organization that co-hosted the summit.