Tokyo's Ota Ward to promote exchanges with China's Dalian

TOKYO, Oct. 16 Kyodo - Tokyo's Ota Ward has signed a memorandum on promoting industrial exchanges with the Chinese city of Dalian, officials said Thursday.

Ota Ward Mayor Tadayoshi Matsubara held talks with his Dalian counterpart Xia
Deren and signed the memorandum in Tokyo last month, the officials said.
In September 2007, Ota Ward industrial associations and the Dalian Economic and
Technological Development Area signed a friendship pact.
Ota, an industrial area with many small factories, plans to increase direct
flights to Asia from Tokyo's Haneda airport, which is located in the ward, when
the airport, currently a hub for domestic flights, is opened to international
flights in a few years.
Dalian, where many Japanese companies already operate, has called for direct
flights between the city and Haneda, the officials said.