FOUR cities from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) signed the Qingdao Declaration on May 18 at a meeting of partner cities in Qingdao.

    The four BRIC cities, Qingdao, Rio de Janeiro, St. Petersburg and Mumbai, will improve high-level exchange and establish a regular communication mechanism to push forward cooperation in all fields, according to the declaration.

    The BRIC cities will accelerate the establishment of inter-city information exchange institutions and platforms sharing commercial information in the hope of improving the investment climate.

    In addition, the four BRIC cities aim at strengthening their technical cooperation, throwing considerable weight behind exchange and cooperation in the fields of new energy, new material, biological technology, information network and marine science.

    To expand the cooperation, the four cities will co-organize common projects concerning ecological protection, disaster prevention, professional education and exchange of entrepreneurs, according to the declaration.

    Cooperation in culture, education and among youths is also expected to be enhanced. Meanwhile, the four cities have agreed to the establishment of a friendly cooperation enhancement committee, which will be chaired by the chief leaders of the four cities.

    The committee will set up secretariats in the four cities to facilitate the regular contact. Besides, other cities of the BRIC will be welcome to join the committee.

    Cooperation between the four cities was initiated by the mayor of St. Petersburg in 2008.(Li Hao, Zhang Xudong, Xu Bing)