Following a 2013 visit by the Illinois State Assembly Delegation to the Liaoning Province in China, Chinese leaders from that area visited Springfield this week. The Chinese Delegation from the Liaoning Provincial Government spent July 9 meeting with Gov. Rauner and several lawmakers and visited Springfield sites such as the State Capitol, Illinois State Museum, and the Lincoln Home.
The Sister-State Agreement relationship between Illinois and Liaoning began in 1982. Over the past 33 years, this relationship has positively impacted both regions in areas such as commerce, trade, investment, education, and governance, including new ventures between Benxi Heavy Machinery and Caterpillar and Dalian Machine Tools Group’s acquisition of Ingersoll in Rockford. Going forward, a major goal of this relationship is to strengthen the link and interaction in the education field. This includes a cooperative project between the Dalian Foreign Language Institute and University of Illinois at Springfield campus.
With a population of nearly 44 million people, the Liaoning Province is in the southern part of northeastern China. The area is ripe with industry, such as mining, quarrying, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, and petroleum and natural gas extraction.