The Fourth Sino-US Mayors Summit opened on Tuesday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, a prelude to the 2005 Asia Pacific cities Summit slated to begin on Wednesday.

The summit was jointly sponsored by the China Association of Mayors and the US Conference of Mayors. The theme of this summit was widening economic cooperation between Chinese and US cities.

Beverly O'Neil, president of US Conference of Mayors and mayor of Long Beach City, California, said that the common aim of this summit is to realize bilateral profits by expanding fields of cooperation between Chinese and US cities.

Mayors from five American cities, namely Dearborn, Michigan; Burnsville, Minnesota; Gary, Indiana; Long Beach and San Bernardino in California attended the summit. The Chinese speakers included mayors from Yiwu of Zhejiang Province, Anyang of Henan Province, Zhaoqing of Guangdong Province, Guang'an of Sichuan Province, Jiangjin and Hechuan of Chongqing Municipality.

Tao Siliang, vice president and secretary general of the China Association of Mayors, said that six years of cooperation between the two organizations has not only established mutual confidence, but also formed a long-term cooperation mechanism. The summit will help promote rapid development in commerce, culture and other fields among Chinese and American cities.

The first Sino-US Mayors Summit was held in Honolulu in 1999. Up to 660 Chinese cities have become members of the China Association of Mayors.

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2005)