In recent years, Anhui Province has continuously enhanced its external exchange maneuvers to help "create a more favorable external environment" for the province's reform, opening up and modernization drive. The province had focused on high-level external exchanges, featured by its successfully receiving visits from foreign state guests, political party guests, high profile officials of foreign governments and local authorities, high-ranking managers of foreign multinationals, overseas well-known entrepreneurs and industrialists, and leading personages of overseas Chinese.

The visits made by the above-mentioned figures account for two thirds of all the visits from overseas to Anhui. The external exchanges in the sectors of economy, trade, science and technology are an important part of the province's overall diplomacy and foreign friendly ties that enjoy their unique advantages in promoting friendly cooperation and exchanges between the Anhui people and people in the rest of the world. Many of the inward visits can be deemed as opportunities of inspecting the investment environment in Anhui, exploring   Anhui and its market, pursuing and expanding cooperation with Anhui.

At the same time, Anhui has sent out a number of delegations at provincial level; Anhui Huangmei Opera Performance Delegation, Anhui Acrobatics Performance Delegation, and Anhui Folk Art Performance Delegation to other countries and regions for friendly visits, economic investigations, trade negotiations, cultural exchanges and exchanges on science and technology. Exchanges with the outside world have developed friendly relationships with foreign countries and regions, and promoted the mutual understandings with them. It has also advanced the economic exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries and sped up Anhui's march toward the outside world and promoted its image abroad.

By the end of 2012, Anhui has established 14 sister provinces in various parts of the world.

By 2012, 16 cities of Anhui Province have established 60 sister city relations with foreign counterparts in various parts of the world. Besides, Chaohu (formerly a prefecture-level city and now a county-level city) has established 3 sister city relations with foreign cities. The sister city relations greatly enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the people of Anhui and the foreign countries. The following is a list of sister cities in Anhui Province.

The 13th Huangshan Friendship Awards

The Anhui provincial government holds its 13th Huangshan Friendship Awards ceremony, in the capital Hefei, on Jan 9, to recognize the contributions of 15 foreign experts.

The Anhui provincial government held its 13th Huangshan Friendship Awards ceremony, in the capital Hefei, on Jan 9, to recognize the contributions of 15 foreign experts from the United States, Canada, Germany, and at least a dozen others, with Wang Xuejun, the provincial governor, taking part to hand out the awards individually.

The Friendship Award, which was established in 1995, is the province’s highest award for foreign experts, with 166 of them having received it. Six of the foreign experts taking part in a post-ceremony symposium were asked to comment.

Fang Zhihong, the deputy secretary-general of the government, who was also present, said the government has always given foreign experts priority and that the economic and social development can be partly attributed to foreign experts. He added that government departments need to provide better services for them and concluded by saying he hopes they will continue to contribute.