Chinese, Brazilian twin cities bolster ties

Xiamen, Fujian province

Xiamen, a coastal city in East China’s Fujian province, will continue sharing expertise in health and governance with Fortaleza, a port city in northeastern Brazil, following the establishment of a sisterly relationship in May last year, local authorities said.

The sister cities are also known as “BRICS Twin Cities”, because both have hosted summits for BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the original members of the group of emerging economies, China Daily reported yesterday.

The cities will intensify cooperation, particularly through exchanges of medical expertise between the Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital affiliated with Xiamen University and Hospital de Messejana, a leading cardiovascular institution in Fortaleza, according to the Xiamen city government.

Furthermore, Xiamen officials will continue to invite their Fortaleza counterparts to participate in training sessions at an innovation base for BRICS partners in Fujian, the city government said in a written response to China Daily.

The collaboration between the two cities to combat cardiovascular diseases — the leading cause of deaths globally according to the World Health Organization — intensified in March, when Hospital de Messejana sent a doctor to Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital for a six-month research and study program.

The following month, the two hospitals formalized their partnership by signing an agreement to cooperate in areas such as cardiovascular diagnosis, talent training and health information technologies.

According to China Daily, the signing ceremony was attended by Cui Yonghui, the Party secretary of Xiamen, and Elmano de Freitas, governor of Ceara, the Brazilian state where Fortaleza is located. MDT/China Daily