City introduction
The Indonesian city has a population of 1.55 million, covers 635 square kilometers and has four areas. It was founded in 1859 and is the second-largest city in Indonesia's Surabaya area. The city is located in the northeast of Java, near Surabaya to the north, with Madura Strait to the east, so it is well placed for transport with Surabaya international airport only 10 minutes away. Over the past five years, it has gradually become the emerging economic city of east Java, and there are many companies planning to transfer there, which will greatly promote the economic development of the city. Sidoarjo has developed fishery, agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture sectors, with its industry and trade contributing 51 percent to the city's economy. The city is famous for its leather industry, especially handmade products.
Sidoarjo and Jinan
Our city officially started friendly communication with Sidoarjo in 2008, mainly in the fields of education, youths and gardens. In April 2010 the two cities signed a letter of intent to establish a friendly, cooperative relationship by September 2012 and establish a formally signed friendly city relationship. The main communication situation is as follows:
(a) Intergovernmental exchanges. Gong Xianqun, vice-mayor of Jinan, was invited to visit Sidoarjo in March 2009, and both sides established friendly and cooperative city's intention. In April 2010, Mr Souter led a delegation to visit our city, and together with Xu Huadong, director of the meeting, and vice-mayor Chen Xianyun signed the letter of intent. In May 2011, Jinan sent a delegation to Sidoarjo to hold talks on expanding communications between the two cities. In September 2012, the mayor and chairman of Sidoarjo council led a delegation to Jinan sign an agreement with Yang Luyu, the mayor of Jinan, to establish a sister city relationship.
(2) Education, youth exchanges. Allah Ferrari, a high school principal, led a delegation to visit our city. An Indonesian Muslim education fund association delegation visited Jinan to explore the possibility of establishing friendly intercollegiate relations and strengthening the communication between teachers.
(3) Garden communication. In 2009, Jinan was invited to attend an international garden design and flower expo in Indonesia, and Indonesian designers then visited us many times to give on-site guidance in landscape planning. At the same time, to promote friendly exchanges, we designed for free a Jinan-style park at Surabaya international airport as a testimony to the two-city friendship.
Sidoarjo has maintained close contact with Jinan and has sent delegations East Java province to our city. We exchanged ideas on matters such as education, communication between governments and poverty alleviation. At present, the two sides are discussing exchanging civil servants for short-term training projects to enhance mutual understanding and lay a solid foundation for high-level visits, trade and economic cooperation.
