Deputy Mayor Dr. Ursula Sautter is currently on a trip to Bonn's twin city Chengdu. Until April 18, 2025, the mayor is taking part in the annual "Chengdu International Friendship Cities Cooperation and Development Conference" in the metropolis of millions in southwest China. The City of Bonn is one of around 30 partner cities and regions from all over the world that come together in Chengdu. The motto of the conference is "win-win cooperation", i.e. forms of cooperation that benefit both sides.
Dr. Ursula Sautter will be accompanied by the Deputy Director of the Cultural Office, Dr. Anna-Lisa Langhoff, and the Deputy Director of the Office for International Affairs and Global Sustainability, Markus Goell. Opportunities for cultural cooperation will also be discussed on site. The Kunstmuseum Bonn and the Chengdu Art Museum are also exploring concrete opportunities for cooperation.
The partnership with the capital of Sichuan province has now been in place for 16 years. In 2024, there were various celebrations to mark the 15th anniversary, which were also accompanied by a visit from a Bonn delegation. Culture and music played a major role. Pianist Luisa Imorde from Bonn and composer and percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger - Beethoven Fellow 2025 - traveled to Chengdu in 2024 as "cultural ambassadors" together with Beethovenfest director Steven Walter. There they gave a concert in front of an audience of around 1000. Following on from this, Dr. Ursula Sautter will announce further musical cooperation at the partnership conference. "Following the positive experiences and encounters of the cultural delegation in December 2024, the Beethovenfest is interested in developing a joint project between the twin cities of Bonn and Chengdu for the Beethoven anniversary in 2027," says Steven Walter, Director of the Beethovenfest Bonn.
In addition to talks on promoting cultural exchange, a meeting with the German Consul General in Chengdu and a visit to the West China Medical Center are on the agenda.
About the partnership
Chengdu is the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan. The city with around 21 million inhabitants in western China is the western Chinese economic center alongside Chongqing.
Bonn has maintained project-based contacts with Chengdu since 2000. The framework for this is a partnership between the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Sichuan. Based on an intensive cultural exchange between the two cities, cooperation was gradually extended to various areas.
In a declaration of intent in 2009, the two cities pledged to continue maintaining official relations in the future - with the aim of promoting sustainable development in both cities in the areas of business, culture, technology, education, tourism, community development and environmental protection.