A successful team

Basel and Shanghai are two highly successful cities who have discovered shared interests. Together, they want to unite their strengths in a city partnership. Although there is a striking difference between the size of the two cities of Basel and Shanghai, there are noticeable similarities in their economic interests: Shanghai and Basel are two of the world’s most important centres for life sciences, have tremendous economic power, are regarded within their respective country as cultural metropolises, and are established centres of science and academic learning. These areas will also be the focus of the partnership. In addition, sustainable development will be at the core of every project.

After almost two years of careful preparation, State Councillor Carlo Conti and Vice Mayor Tengjie Tang signed a formal agreement on November 19, 2007. In the following months, a memorandum of understanding was set up to define the cooperation between the canton of Basel-Stadt and the city of Shanghai from 2008 and 2010. Soon after, the first projects and exchange programmes were started, mainly in the areas of public health, education, economy and the arts. They founded the basis for a rich and growing partnership.