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Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a memorandum with the governor of the Quinghai Province in Western China, as the two states agreed to work together on trade, environment, education and energy issues.
The partnership, which both governors hailed as "historic," came as a group of Chinese provincial governors and officials are in Utah this week for a series of meetings scheduled to run in tandem with the National Governors Association Conference.
The delegation, which includes Chinese Party Secretary Zhao Hongzhu and governors of the Yunnan, Qinghai and Anhui provinces will attend a U.S.-China Trade, Culture & Education Conference and meet with some of the 35 governors from across the nation attending the NGA conference.
"Part of it is just a change in the global market. There's a realization that the marketplace for states is not just their state and their region," Herbert said in an interview. "We're going beyond our country's borders and there's a need to engage in the global marketplace. ... I think states and governors are saying, 'Hmm, we can either sit on the sidelines and lose in the global market or we can get out there and compete.' "
Herbert will keynote the opening day of the conference Thursday morning. Seminars will focus on how to do business in Utah and the United States, and the attendees will spend the day Friday at Utah State University.
On Saturday they will tour Salt Lake City and the Utah Capitol, then have one-on-one meetings with business leaders.
Following Wednesday's signing ceremony with Herbert and Quinghai Provincial Gov. Luo Huining, presidents of Utah Valley University and Qinghai Normal University signed a memorandum, aimed at encouraging technological, industrial and educational cooperation.
The agreement signed by UVU President Matthew Holland and Dong Jiaping, his counterpart at Qinghai Normal University, will lead to student and faculty exchanges between the two universities.
"The creation, in essence, of a sister university relationship with Qinghai Normal University will bring greater opportunities for UVU students, faculty, and our regional service area to engage with China," Holland said in a statement. "This new relationship is fundamentally important to UVU in becoming a more globally engaged institution of higher learning."
The move is among many made by Utah institutions to build relationships with schools in China, the massive Asian country on track to become the world's biggest economy in the coming years.
Westminster College, for example, started a master's of business administration program at China's Donghua University in Shanghai.
Holland participated in the governor's recent trade mission to China, which met with government and education leaders in the Qinghai province.
Brian Maffly contributed to this report.