Mayor Rodrigo Duterte announced this Sunday in the city government's television program aired over ABS-CBN. He said he would most likely send Vice Mayor Luis Bonguyan to represent him.
Duterte said he wanted to go and sign the agreement himself but as crisis manager for Regions 11 and 12, he cannot leave because of the spate of bombings.
Four persons were injured in the noontime blast in Tacurong City on October 10; six persons were killed and 29 others injured in the Makilala blast. No one was injured in Wednesdays’ blast in Cotabato City.
Nanning is China's gateway city to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to the BIMP – East ASEAN Growth Area.
In 2005, according to Councilor Peter Laviña, the city council's trade and industry committee chair, it was the city government of Nanning, China which proposed the sisterhood agreement. It was coursed through the Filipino consul-general in Guangzhou province.
China designated Nanning as the permanent site of the China-ASEAN Trade Expo, which started two years ago to promote trade and investments between China and the 10-nation ASEAN, according to Laviña.
Nanning Mayor Lin Guoqiang came to Davao on March 29 and signed a letter of intent for a sister-city agreement
Lavina said the city government of Nanning, located in the southern part of Guanxi Province, in the southernmost region of the China, wants to develop the city similar to Davao, as the "Green City of China."
Nanning is near China's border with ASEAN member- country Vietnam.
Earlier, Laviña said the significance of the Davao-Nanning ties lies in Davao's location in the BIMP growth area, as China develops Nanning as its link to the ASEAN.
Once formalized, Nanning would be the fourth city-area where Davao has sister city pacts. At present is has sisterhood ties with Keelung, Taiwan, Manado and Bitung, Indonesia, and Tacoma, near Seattle, USA.
The Chinese government initiated closer economic ties with Mindanao partners during the July visit of Chinese ambassador Li Jinjun to this city. Li cited billions of possible investments to Mindanao. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
—