Mayor of Ottawa seeks more tourism from sister-city Beijing
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E-mail Xinhua, October 6, 2017
OTTAWA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ottawa is now focusing on getting more Chinese visitors to the city, Mayor Jim Watson of Ottawa told Xinhua in an interview during a series of celebration activities called Ottawa Welcomes the World, marking the 150th anniversary of Canada's founding.
On this occasion, Ottawa has hosted a series of activities allowing embassies in the capital to show their culture through music, art and food, among which, Beijing Week, organized by the Chinese embassy, officially opened here on Thursday.
Beijing's vice-mayor Cheng Hong attended the opening of the four-day spotlight on Beijing, featuring performances of acrobatics, folk music and traditional Chinese operas.
Ottawa and Beijing have been sister cities since 1999, when Watson signed the sister-city agreement in Beijing during his first term as Ottawa's mayor in 1997-2000, which has led to several joint initiatives.
Watson has been Ottawa's mayor over the past seven years after serving as a cabinet minister in the government of the Canadian province of Ontario, and was named as Canada's most popular mayor this year, according to a poll conducted in the country's 10 largest cities.
Nearly two years ago, he made his fifth visit to Beijing with a delegation of Ottawa's business leaders, and five agreements were signed covering such areas of technology, investment, private equity and venture capital.
Other partnerships have also been formed involving clean-tech, foreign-student exchanges and tourism, which will be highlighted in 2018 during the Canada-China Year of Tourism.
Watson is now mainly focusing on getting more Chinese visitors to Ottawa, and Michael Crockatt, president and CEO of Ottawa Tourism, will soon be in Beijing for tourism promotion. Enditem
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