Mayor visits sister city in China with delegation
Mayor Matjaž Rakovec and Deputy Mayor Janez Černe, along with an economic and educational delegation from the City of Kranj, visited their sister city Džangdžjakov in China. During the successful five-day visit, they explored sports facilities, numerous companies, and educational institutions.
Kranj became sister cities with Džangdžjakov, a 4.7-million population city in China that hosted the last Winter Olympics (Beijing 2022), towards the end of 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The delegation from China visited Kranj in March this year, and now the City of Kranj returned the visit with a delegation.
In Džangdžjakov, they met with the city's leadership and visited Olympic facilities, a technological park for winter sports, the Olympic village, a center for vocational education, and some public institutions and companies. The municipalities' leadership exchanged examples of best practices in sustainability, with Kranj learning more about mobility in Džangdžjakov with a focus on hydrogen, while the Chinese counterparts were presented with Kranj's waste management practices and the concept of a zero-waste society.
The visit was successful both in terms of economic and educational aspects. The representatives of Kranj's business sector reached agreements on further cooperation with Chinese companies during meetings, and the Confucius Classroom of Kranj High school signed a cooperation agreement with one of the local high schools.
"The visit to China was productive and successful. It was particularly important for establishing contacts and exchanging best practices in education and economic cooperation. The location of the last Winter Olympics, which is only an hour away from Beijing, has developed advanced technologies for water treatment and electricity generation, especially hydrogen. They have successfully implemented hydrogen-powered public transportation, with 444 hydrogen-fueled buses and hydrogen refueling stations. I consider this a significant opportunity for collaboration between the Gorenjska economy and other Slovenian companies with the Chinese market. We also discussed next steps," summarized Mayor Matjaž Rakovec after the visit.
