Tianjin is at the forefront of reform, opening up: FM

The Belt and Road Initiative has brought new and important opportunities for Tianjin to stand at the forefront of reform and opening up, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.

"Tianjin is a place where land and maritime Silk Road meet, as well as an important city along the New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor," Wang said.

Wang made the remark at an event promoting the city's advantages to foreign diplomatic missions in Beijing.

This promotional event was the first ever held for a municipality directly under the central government.

Tianjin is a pioneer of China's modern industrial development, and has a long history of foreign exchanges, Wang said.

In recent years, the city has committed to promoting high-quality development, integrated itself to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development strategy and has built the pilot free trade zone, he added.

Li Hongzhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee, said that Tianjin will continue opening up and strengthening cooperation and exchanges with other countries in areas like trade, science and technology, education, culture and tourism.

Zhang Guoqing, mayor of Tianjin, invited friends from home and abroad to invest and operate in the city to achieve mutual benefits and win-win development.

Andrey Denisov, the Russian ambassador to China, said that Russia has extensive economic and people-to-people interactions with Tianjin, and welcomes leaders, businesses and the cultural community in Tianjin to visit Russia and sign more cooperation agreements with Russian cities.