（The original title:3rd Hangzhou Int’l Day launched with city’s greater openness By:Wu Yuehua）

    The 3rd Hangzhou International Day kicked off on Sept.5 at Hangzhou Intercontinental Hotel with a keynote address given by Zhou Jiangyong, Secretary of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee. Zhou welcomed the guests from afar, briefed the city's achievements in opening-up, digitization, cultural exchange, and environmental protection and pledged that such achievements will be extending in the future.

    This year's opening ceremony also went online and was said fruitful by the attendees from over 26 countries. It is centered on Hangzhou being a window in many ways--a window of opening-up through which the world can understand Zhejiang and China, a window of digitization, a window of humanity, and a window of environmental protection, etc. It leaves no doubt that the logo of Hangzhou International Day is named window when making its debut on Sept.3, three years after Sept.5 was marked as Hangzhou International Day to commemorate the host of the 2016 G20 Summits held in Hangzhou.

    Zou Xiaoli, Chinese Ambassador to Argentina, Li Minggang, Chinese Ambassador to Kuwait, Lin Songtian, President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, President of Olympic Council of Asia sent congratulatory videos and letters to the ceremony.

    Zou Xiaoli stressed in the video that the bond between the two countries has been strengthened with the continuous efforts in trade, cooperation, and foreign aid. "Alibaba's E-commerce Platform has sent Argentine shrimps onto the dining-tables of Chinese consumers." "In the international cooperation against COVID-19, Hangzhou was among the first cities to provide medical supplies to Argentina. The first and second affiliated hospitals of Zhejiang University School of Medicine shared their treatment experiences with the medical workers from Argentina and other Latin American countries."

    Michele Cecchi, Consulate General of Italy in Shanghai stated in his keynote address, "China and Italy have enjoyed a long-term friendship of more than 2,000 years. Both countries share the largest number of UNESCO world heritage sites."

    "Italy provided medical equipment to Chinese people at the outbreak of the pandemic in China, and when the virus became our serious emergency in March, China sent back tons of medical equipment and three medical teams, one of which was from Zhejiang."

    He claimed that more emphasis should be placed on cooperation in which all countries should stand together and open the window of opportunities.

    Zhang Yong, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group shared with the internationals his vision on "globalization in the digital era". "Globalization has been and will always be one of Alibaba's long-term strategies," said Zhang.

    Ten international residents in Hangzhou were invited to attend the ceremony and were awarded Qianjiang Friendship Award, the highest honor that the city gives to foreign experts working in Hangzhou. Among others, Anton Bernard Van Putten from Germany, Sergio Andres Galindo Torres from Australia, David Messenger from the US, Herve Robert Bertrand from France, Paul Andrew Rogers from the UK, and Javier Pascual Gimeno Breton from Spain were entitled the honor this year.

    The Hangzhou International Day will last until mid-September with an array of events--a themed exhibition, an Asian Games fitness event, a blind dating party in celebration of the 2020 Sino-Italian Romance Culture Week, and an agriculture festival in Jiande. Hangzhou International Day is being upgraded into a prime event for Hangzhou residents.

    Sept. 5 this year also marks the first anniversary of Hangzhoufeel, Hangzhou's first official local English newspaper, providing the latest metropolitan news and local lifestyle information.

    The English paper is published every other Thursday inserted in the middle of the regular City Express. A total of 24 volumes have been published so far, inviting the international residents and visitors to really get involved in local life and local events. The editors and journalists are striving to make it the most helpful and influential English media in Hangzhou and in the Yangtze River Delta.