[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The city of Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province signed a sister-city agreement with the Italian city of Siena at a video signing ceremony on Tuesday.

The two cities will deepen cooperation in sports, art, culture, and other fields based on their friendly exchanges in education and trade since 2015.

"We hope the new tie can be a starting point for higher-level exchanges and cooperation between the two cities," said Wang Hui, mayor of Nantong, adding that Nantong and Siena will promote high-level exchanges and a dialogue mechanism.

Wang also hoped that the two cities will further strengthen cooperation in artificial intelligence, and medical and home-textile industries.

Luigi De Mossi, mayor of Siena, expressed his gratitude for all the assistance Nantong provided during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, Nantong donated masks, protective suits, and other medical supplies to help the Italian city weather the pandemic.

The two cities have a lot of room for cooperation in tourism and culture, said Luigi De Mossi, who also suggested holding art exhibitions to help more Italians understand Nantong and Chinese culture.