Wuxi hosts the opening ceremony for the 2022 cherry blossom festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuxi city – located in East China's Jiangsu province – is stepping into the international spotlight as host of the annual cherry blossom festival from March to April, when thousands of wonderful cherry trees will be in full flower in the Yuantouzhu (Turtle Head Isle) scenic spot.

The festival held its opening ceremony on March 24 – both on-site and online in the wake of the recent COVID-19 outbreak.

Together with the festival, the 2022 Wuxi International Month also kicked off – providing an opportunity to both celebrate cherry blossoms and boost friendship and communications between Wuxi and other countries. A series of international exchanges and cooperation activities, exhibitions and interactive experiences will be held during the month-long event.

A view of cherry blossoms at Yuantouzhu scenic spot in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. The special beauty of the area attracts thousands of visitors each year. [Photo by Gao Yuepeng/for chinadaily.com.cn]

Innovation cooperation activities are also one of the highlights. The RCEP friendship cities cooperation forum, for example, was held on March 24 – to reach consensus on deepening joint work between local governments after the signing of the RCEP or Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. RCEP is a massive trade accord in the Asian-Pacific region which came into force on Jan 1 this year.

A Sino-European sustainable development industry and finance cooperation meeting will also be held, to attract more European venture capital funds, cutting-edge sci-tech projects and high-end science and technology innovation summits to Wuxi.

Other activities to promote commerce and industry will take place, such as a conference on bolstering Wuxi's business with multinationals and a life and health industry conference.

In addition, the event will launch an international innovation and entrepreneurship competition, a short video competition and hold signing ceremonies for some 40 commerce and trade projects – as well as set up an international talent entry and exit service center, to boost the city's internationalization.

At the opening ceremony, a series of non-governmental international friendship activities was also held, including the opening ceremony of a friendship park and the appointment ceremony of the Friendship Envoy of Wuxi.