As the governor of the US state of Iowa, and as an "old friend" of President Xi Jinping, I have had the honor to lead a delegation of US governors and Iowa business leaders to China to participate in the second China-US Governors' Forum, hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and celebrate the 30th anniversary of Iowa's sister-state relationship with Hebei province.

It is truly an honor for me to recognize this special anniversary of a unique partnership that brought Xi to the United States for the first time in 1985.

Iowa and China have evolved in many ways since 1985. When I first met Xi, he was a local Party leader traveling on an exchange program, the Iowa sister-states program, on his first trip to the US. During his two-week stay in Iowa, his agenda included a cruise on the mighty Mississippi River, visits to local farms, meetings with farm groups and businesses, participating in family potlucks, attending a birthday party and meeting with me, as governor, in my formal office of the state capitol.