Kanton Solothurn

The canton of Solothurn has friendship agreements with two Chinese provinces, one with Gansu and the other with Heilongjiang.

In 2010, the Solothurn Government as well as Chinese representatives from Gansu province signed a Treaty of friendship for the first time. In September 2015 Liu Weiping, the Governor of Gansu province, visited with a delegation from Solothurn, the Solothurn  City Hall  to renew the friendship agreement. Mayor Roland Heim, who signed the agreement on the part of the Solothurn Government, honored the friendship in the ceremony as follows: "We hope that the cooperation between the universities as well as the cooperation between the authorities of Gansu and the Canton of Solothurn can become even stronger and sustainable”.

In September 2015, Party Secretary Wang Xiankui visited together with a Chinese delegation from Heilongjiang the Solothurn Government. Together with Mayor Roland Heim, he signed a five-year agreement of friendship. Good relations with the province of Heilongjiang are related to the China activities of the University of Applied Science of Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW): in 2012 the Business School of the FHNW signed a contract with the provincial Government of Heilongjiang, promoting the training of Chinese management executives and CEOs of Chinese companies. So far, more than 300 executives from Heilongjiang completed a further education course at the Academy of Economics in Olten.