HANOVER, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) is announcing the official twinning of the historic township of Lucea in Hanover, Jamaica’s second smallest parish, with Huangshi, a prefecture-level city in south-eastern Hubei province in China.

“The idea of this twinning was the brain child of Andria Dehaney, Councillor (PNP) for Sandy Bay Division and Deputy Mayor of Lucea. It was during her visit to China as a member of the PNP’s eight member delegation in August 2017, that she approached officials of the Huangshi Municipality about the possible twinning of that city and Lucea, to promote better understanding between different cultures, and to build economic links between two location,” the party said. 

The PNP pointed out that this idea became a reality when a six member team from Huangshi visited the Hanover Municipal Corporation on Monday July 21, 2019 to sign the memorandum of understanding between the two municipalities.

It is said the Huangshi team was led by Wang Bin, Vice Chairman, Standing Committee of Huangshi Municipal People’s Congress, People’s Republic of China and the Lucea Municipality was represented by Mayor Sheridan Samuels, Deputy Mayor and Chief Architect Andria Dehaney, Councillors Daren Barns and Marvel Sewell.

“We have been looking forward to this for almost a year now and the residents of the town of Lucea and by extension the parish of Hanover are very excited about the possibilities of this twinning,” said Deputy Mayor Dehaney.

“I will be working with all the members of the Lucea Municipality to have this twinning marked by the installation of a new series of ‘Welcome to Lucea – twinned with the City of Huangshi, China’ signs on major roads into the township, as well as a host of other ideas we can now discuss and advance for the benefit of the residents of Lucea in particular and Hanover in general,” the Sandy Bay Councillor said.