A children's choir from Pardubice City in the Czech Republic staged a performance at Shenzhen Auditorium on Monday night in an exchange with their counterparts at Shenzhen Senior High School, Shenzhen Daily reported Tuesday.

The friendship between Pardubice and Shenzhen began in June 2002, when senior Shenzhen officials paid a visit to the Czech city.

Apart from the exchange between two children's choir, Jiri Stritesky, mayor of Pardubice, who led the choir, expected more exchanges with Shenzhen in technology as well. He said the city would send a delegation led by its vice mayor to visit Shenzhen for the China Hi-Tech Fair in October.

A new electronic appliance manufacturing base invested by Foxconn Electronics Inc., one of Shenzhen's biggest electronics company, has brought the two cities closer together in the high-tech area.

"We hove a positive attitude toward the future development of Pardubice and appreciate its economic vitality," said a spokesman from Foxconn.

The ninth biggest city in the Czech Republic, Pardubice, 100 kilometers from the capital, Prague, plays an important role in transport within the E.U. market.
 
(Shenzhen Daily August 3, 2004)