Director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council Qiu Yuanping and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee on Saturday discussed deepening cooperation in such fields as technology innovation, education, culture and healthcare.

Qiu and Lee expressed their willingness to learn from each other and work together to strengthen their bilateral relationship.

San Francisco has been playing an important role in vitalizing the economy and facilitating innovation and reform, said Qiu, adding the city also excels in the education sector.

"My office will dedicate itself to strengthening more exchanges between China and San Francisco, on both the provincial and city level," said Qiu.

For example, China might be able to share some experiences and lessons with California as the Golden State is suffering from its worst drought in 100 years, said Qiu.

As an international city, which enjoys a historically close relationship with China, San Francisco is eager to deepen cooperation with the Office of Overseas Chinese Affairs, said Lee.

In a Saturday morning visit to the Chinese Hospital, which boasts a history of 113 years serving the Chinese community in San Francisco Chinatown and now is undergoing renovation and expansion, Qiu and Lee signed their names on a pillar beam which will be raised next week on a new building of the hospital.

Qiu, on behalf of her office and the State Council, donated $100,000 to the face-lift of the Chinese Hospital when Lee led his delegation to visit Beijing in April of last year.

Later on Saturday, Qiu and her six-member delegation also paid a visit to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, and the first Chinese school in North America, which is 126 years old.

Qiu, who is on her first trip to San Francisco since taking office in March last year, arrived in the city on the Chinese Lantern Festival with the plan to extend a New Year’s greeting to overseas Chinese in San Francisco Bay Area.

Qiu recognized the efforts of the overseas Chinese community in the Bay Area for upholding their culture and civilization, inheriting the Chinese history as well as enhancing the China-US friendship.

"San Francisco is where the first Chinese immigrants arrived and has the most populous Chinese community in the US," Qiu said. "The Chinese government has always paid great attention to overseas Chinese and caring for their lives and development. China will continue its efforts and promote services for overseas Chinese."

In the year that marked the 35th anniversary of the establishment of China-US diplomatic relations, Qiu said as the largest developing country and the largest developed country, China and the US are continuing their efforts to follow up on the vision of building a new model of major power relationship, a consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama in a summit in California last June.

"A good China-US relationship is important for the overseas Chinese in America as it relates to our people's living environment and their benefit," Qiu said. "We are confident that through the joint efforts of the two sides, China-US relations will continue to be pushed in the right direction."

On Friday afternoon Qiu met with California Governor Jerry Brown in Oakland, California. She also visited the Nam Kue School in San Francisco Chinatown, the US Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Committee to Promote the Reunification of China and joined an evening party celebrating the Chinese Lantern Festival hosted by local Chinese community leaders.

San Francisco is the first stop of Qiu's current tour. She will go on to Boston and Canada.

Contact the writers at junechang@chinadailyusa.com

yuwei12@chinadailyusa.com.