By Carol Heizer, Jiujiang Sister Cities Co-Chair

Mayor Jerry Abramson signed a formal Sister City agreement with Mayor Cai Xiaoming of Jiujiang, China on September 9, 2004 at Louisville Metro Hall during the Sister Cities summit in Louisville.

Jiujiang, China was chosen as a Sister City because over twenty years ago Jiangxi Province, where Jiujiang city is located, and Kentucky became Sister States. Both sides receive official visits from their sister regions frequently, and visiting delegations have achieved great successes in many fields.

Jiujiang City was first introduced to Louisville in 1996 when a government delegation from Jiangxi province visited Kentucky and decided to develop educational and cultural exchanges with Louisville. Since the year 2000, the Crane House in Louisville, Kentucky and Jiujiang Municipal Education Bureau have developed sound educational exchanges that provide training for the English teachers of Jiujiang City.

The Jiujiang Sister Cities Committee is planning a trip to Jiujiang in the fall of 2005 and is working with Greater Louisville Inc. and the Kentucky World Trade Center to coordinate economic development opportunities between the two cities. The City of Jiujiang has expressed an interest in working with Louisville to provide technical assistance in water treatment, water quality standards, and water sewage.

About Jiujiang
Juijiang, a city of 4.13 million people located in the northernmost part of Jiangxi Province, is a two-thousand-year-old city situated on the south bank of the Yangtze River hemmed in by mountains. A noted town in ancient China, for years it served as a communication center along the middle reaches of the Three Kingdoms (220-280 AD). From the 17th to the 19th centuries, it was an important center for tea trade. In 1861, it was opened to foreign trade as a treaty port.

The city is the second largest city in the Jiangxi Province, next only to the capital city of Nanchang. Part of the city is covered by Lake Poyang and has a subtropical monsoon climate. It is rich in forest and aquatic resources and many mineral deposits—including gold, copper, limestone, silica, and molding sand.

Jiujiang is traditionally an agricultural region, but has made tremendous progress in chemical and high-tech industries. The Chang-Jiu High Tech Corridor is a special Economic Development Zone in Jiujiang. The city’s chief economic activities include cotton production, ship-building, construction materials, oil pressing, and rice processing. Jiujiang also produces grain, juice, tea, timber, fish, bricks, tiles, and textiles, and also has a large hydroelectric project nearby.

To strengthen the city’s economy, the Jiujiang government has promised to provide high-quality and efficient services to investors, and to facilitate procedures for applying to do business. A short while ago, 60 enterprise reform measures were put into effect. Today in Jiujiang, pillar industries such as the petrochemical, building materials, machinery, textile, garment, and power industries, have been set up, and the infrastructure and investment environment continues to improve.