Duterte said he signed the cooperation friendship agreement cum economic and cultural agreement, with Nanning Mayor Chen Xiangqun during his visit last week to China. Xiangqun visited this city last month.
City Hall is yet to release a copy of the "friendship agreement."
Duterte hailed the economic situation in Nanning as robust but also noted it was made possible under communist and authoritarian rule.
But while the "friendship agreement" has been signed, Duterte did not sound as optimistic about investments coming in.
Last month, he said once signed, the agreement would signal entry of investments from Nanning.
On Tuesday night, Duterte said the business community in Nanning expressed apprehensions on security, corruption and kidnapping.
Duterte talked to reporters during a break at his command conference at the Grand Men Seng hotel with military and police officials from Southeastern Mindanao.
He said he assured them that the city government is corrupt-free. But he stopped short of giving the same assurance to the agencies under the national government amid continuing hearings on the controversial deal that awarded a broadband project to ZTE, a Chinese firm.
"No problem with me. I can assure (Davao City is) 100 percent corruption-free. But I don't know about other national government agencies," he said.
Duterte said he told the Nanning business community that the concerns could be discussed with the business sector of Davao.
Duterte once again used the issue to hit American interests in Mindanao. He said he prefers to deal with "Orientals" rather than with Americans.
He said there were indications the proposed Chinese consular office in Davao would be put up, but the same proposal is still stuck in Beijing the Chinese capital (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)