Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - President of the Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority Chief Commissioner Mohammad Nawafleh Thursday signed in Beijing a twinning agreement between the ancient city of Petra and the Chinese city of Jiayuguan, the site of the largest pass of the Great Wall of China. Nawafleh told Petra in an interview Saturday that the deal would open new horizons for tourism cooperation between the two regions and widely help promote Petra as a global tourist destination.

He predicted that Petra and other tourist attractions in the Kingdom would witness a growing number of Chinese visitors, adding that all entities concerned with tourism promotion would do more to internationally market Jordan's unique and distinguished tourist product and attract more visitors.

Jiayuguan, a prefecture-level city in northwestern Gansu province, is most famous for the nearby Jiayu Pass, the largest and most intact pass of the Great Wall of China. It joined the UNESCO list of world heritage sites in 1987, two years after Petra was declared a world heritage landmark in 1985.

A number of Jordanian and Chinese officials attended the twinning agreement.