HAIKOU /China/, August 8. /TASS/. Haikou, the administrative center of China's Hainan province, and Grodno, Belarus, have signed an agreement to officially establish a twin city relationship. This was reported by the Hainan Daily newspaper.

The cities signed a memorandum back in July 2018, which originally planned to establish sister-city relations in the spring of 2020 during the visit of the Haikou government delegation to Grodno. Over the past few years, the two cities have been actively developing cooperation in areas such as science, technology, innovation, culture and education. The parties also note that for further expansion of contacts the regions need to establish direct flights as soon as possible.

A representative of the Haikou government noted at the signing ceremony that the establishment of sister-city relations will give a new impetus to trade and economic contacts, cooperation in the humanitarian sphere and tourism. In turn, the representative of Grodno expressed hope for the deepening of trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation, as well as cooperation in the spheres of culture and education.

Grodno Region is located in the western part of Belarus. It occupies an area of 25 thousand square kilometers, with a population of about 1.04 million people, of which about 370 thousand live in the administrative center of the region.

Haikou has so far established  twin city relations with 41 cities in 33 countries on five continents.