The 5th China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference was held in the eastern city of Kunshan on Friday. More than 100 mayors and senators from the United States were among nearly 200 representatives taking part in the event. Wang Mengjie has more.

Dialogue, agreements and people-to-people exchanges – to share best practice in a network of sister cities from China and the United States.

In a letter to the China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference, President Xi Jinping hailed the fruitful bilateral cooperation.

Issues relating to employment, education, climate and the environment were high on this year's agenda.

XIN CHANGXING Secretary, CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee "Being China's first province to establish sister friendship with the U.S., Jiangsu will continue to promote the development and cooperation with sister cities from the U.S. side."

This is the fifth edition of the sister cities conference. The event is seen as an important mechanism for exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

DANIEL DELK Deputy Principal Officer U.S. Consulate General Shanghai "What's the cornerstone for U.S.-China bilateral ties? I think it's the U.S. people and the Chinese people. And that's why I'm really glad that here we have an opportunity. We started at the very senior national level. Now we have at the city level."

Facing ups and downs, China-U.S. ties are of global significance.

DANIEL DELK Deputy Principal Officer U.S. Consulate General Shanghai "Two countries sometimes also have different views, and so we have to be able to come together at the table, have discussions and work on solutions together. I think people to people ties is really important because we develop the understanding that builds trust so that we can work through problems as they arise as they inevitably will from time to time."

Since diplomatic relations were established between China and the U.S. in 1979, people-to-people exchanges have been fruitful.

The two countries now have over 280 pairs of sister provinces or states and cities, covering 90 percent of states and cities in the U.S.

CAROL ROBERTSON LOPEZ Honorary President American International Sisters Cities Association "When we're not listening to slogans or positioning of different leaders, when we just sit down together and talk about the issues that we have in common, that we find that we have so much more in agreement than we do in conflict."

WANG MENGJIE Kunshan, Jiangsu Province "During his visit to China in 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon quoted President George Washington and said, 'Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.' Today, his words are still resoundingly true. That's why Beijing hopes the two sides could support wide-ranging communication and cooperation, and bring China-U.S. ties back on track."