In a different setting on Wednesday, an embodied AI robot holding a pen drew a crowd at a smart factory operated by PIA Automation. The machine wrote steadily on paper as visiting officials leaned in to watch or raised their phones to record it.

　　Enrico Ricci, representing the mayor of Florence, Italy, was impressed by the robot's movements and ability to interact. Florence, he said, is also looking for ways to connect advanced digital technologies with small businesses and startups, and hopes to exchange more ideas with Ningbo.

　　Participants attend a session of the 2026 Global Mayors Dialogue at PIA Automation in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 4, 2026. (Xinhua/Sui Lixi)

　　Ningbo already has extensive international business links. Mayor Shen Mingquan said the eastern Chinese city trades with more than 220 countries and regions. More than 5,000 Ningbo-based enterprises have invested overseas, while nearly 10,000 foreign-invested firms operate in the city.

　　New Zealand's Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown stressed the importance of personal connections in trade. "Trade today is becoming more city to city, and it's people to people connections which contribute to this trade," he said.

　　He recalled exchanges between Ningbo and the city of Waitakere, now part of Auckland, that predated their 1998 sister-city agreement. Waitakere's then-mayor, Bob Harvey, had made several visits to Ningbo, helping promote exchanges in education and sports.

　　Brown said Auckland is also exploring ways to use technological innovation to drive business growth and hopes to learn from its Chinese partners.