On November 13, 2018, at the invitation of Jinjiang City Government, Sara Duterte, Mayor of Davao City, Philippines, led a delegation to Jinjiang, Fujian Province for a friendly visit and signed an agreement to establish sister city relations with Jinjiang City.

   Sara Duterte said that Davao City and Jinjiang City are of great significance to the establishment of Sister Cities. Many overseas Chinese in the Philippines are from Jinjiang. The signing of this agreement will further draw the emotions between the people of the two places and facilitate friendly exchanges between China and the Philippines. . Jinjiang City has a strong economy and rapid development. There are many valuable experiences that Davao City can learn from. She hopes to strengthen exchanges between the two places in the future and promote practical cooperation in culture, tourism, economy and trade, medical care, and technology. She also looks forward to forging friendly relations with more cities in China and pushing China-Philippines friendly and cooperative relations to a new level.

   Liu Wenru, secretary of the Jinjiang Municipal Party Committee, said that the signing ceremony that day opened a new chapter in the exchanges and cooperation between the two places. It was the result of friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two places and the common expectation of the people of the two places. He introduced the economic and social development of Jinjiang City and said that Jinjiang City and Davao City have strong commonality and complementarity in many fields, and the cooperation prospects are broad and the potential is huge. He hopes that the two sides will strengthen interaction to achieve complementary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win. Make positive contributions to the continuous development of China-Philippines relations. He cordially invites Filipino friends to participate in the 18th World Middle School Games in Jinjiang in 2020. He also hopes that people from all walks of life in Davao City will often come to Jinjiang for a walk and see, and make unremitting efforts for friendly exchanges and win-win cooperation with each other.

  Li Lin, Consul General of the Chinese Consulate in Davao, expressed his warm congratulations on the holding of the signing event. He said that Davao is the third most populous city in the Philippines. After the careful management of President Duterte and Mayor Sarah, Davao City has become a beautiful city with natural environment, rapid economic development, and where its people live and work in peace and contentment. The people of China and the Philippines have frequent contacts since ancient times and are closely linked. The overseas Chinese whose ancestral home is in Quanzhou account for 90% of the total number of overseas Chinese in the Philippines. The Chinese Consulate General in Davao will guide the cooperation between Davao and relevant Chinese parties including Jinjiang, and promote Davao to become an important hub for China and the Philippines to jointly build the "Belt and Road", a demonstration base for China and the Philippines to deepen exchanges and cooperation, and China A pioneering place for cooperation with the Eastern ASEAN Growth Area.

   At the meeting, the two parties also signed a series of project cooperation agreements, such as a memorandum of cooperation on the opening of the Jinjiang-Davao route, a memorandum of cooperation in the construction of electric furnace steelmaking, continuous casting, and steel rolling plants, and the China-Philippines International Building Materials (Davao) Free Trade Zone Cooperation Framework Agreement , HDT high-efficiency solar energy project cooperation agreement, and Huaqiao University and Davao Ateneo University signed an educational exchange memorandum, etc.

   After the meeting, Sala said in an interview that the Davao City Government attaches great importance to the cooperation with Jinjiang City, and believes that after the two cities formally establish a sister city relationship, the joint efforts of the two cities will further promote practical cooperation in various fields between the two places and deepen them. China-Philippines friendship and cooperation.