From 23 to 25 May 2016, an official delegation of Harbin paid a visit in Murmansk.
Active cooperation between the cities began relatively recently.
In March 2014, at the invitation of the People"s Government of Harbin, the first official visit of a delegation from Murmansk to Harbin took place.
The key event of the visit was the signing of a protocol of intentions on the establishment of friendly ties and bilateral cooperation between the People"s Government of Harbin and Murmnask city Administration.
This visit revealed the most promising areas of cooperation, and as a result, work was immediately started on the formation of concepts of interaction in various fields.
In 2015, the second visit of Murmansk delegation to Harbin took place.
The purpose of this visit was to conduct negotiations with the leadership of Harbin, sign a protocol of intentions to establish twinning relations between cities, as well as participate in the II Russian-Chinese EXPO – a large international exhibition of competitive products of Russian and Chinese companies.
The protocol signed on October 13, 2015, paves the way for the establishment of sister-city relations, which provide significant advantages in the implementation of joint projects.
In the course of communication with the management and representatives of companies and organizations in Harbin, issues of health care, transport, in particular freight transport, partnerships and investments were discussed. As a result of the negotiations and working meetings, practical opportunities for the implementation of joint projects and the interest of the Chinese side in interaction between our cities were noted.
In order to develop the agreements reached, from 23 to 25 May 2016, a delegation from Harbin paid a visit to Murmansk.
During the eventful program of the visit, the members of the Chinese delegation, together with their Russian colleagues, discussed the possibility of establishing sister-city relations between the cities, the participation of Harbin representatives in the celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city of Murmansk, as well as the prospects for the implementation of joint projects in various fields:
– in the field of education, issues of studying the Chinese language and Chinese culture, exchange of students and teachers were discussed both at the level of the Murmansk International Lyceum and on the basis of the Murmansk Arctic State University;
– in the field of health care, the members of the delegation visited the Murmansk city emergency hospital and during the visit paid special attention to the discussion of cooperation in the areas of rehabilitation therapy and rehabilitation of children with the consequences of cerebral palsy, early rehabilitation of patients who have suffered a heart attack and stroke, the prospects for the development of distance medicine. In addition, the issues of experience exchange and internships for doctors of various specialties were touched upon;
– in the field of tourism, the Chinese side noted the significant interest of the Chinese in cruises to the North Pole. Today, there is a tendency towards an increase in the number of tourists from the Middle Kingdom, in connection with which there are good prospects for Murmansk to attract tourists from Harbin.
During the meeting of Chinese delegation, the head of Murmansk municipal unit handed over an invitation to take part in the international festival "Gulf Stream", which will be held from 9 to 11 September 2016 in Murmansk. As part of a varied and eventful program of the event, it is planned, among other things, to sign an agreement on the establishment of twinning relations between the cities. Thus, Harbin will become the 11 sister city of Murmansk.
