Mayor Gray: Sister-city relationships help with economic development
Citing a half-century tradition of the “soft power of citizen diplomacy,” the District renewed its longest-standing partnership with a foreign city as officials said the relationship would bear fruit for D.C. on economic, educational and cultural issues.
“We certainly recognize that being able to have an international presence will help to promote our economic development programs,” D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said Friday after signing an updated agreement with Bangkok. “There’s fertile territory here for us to develop a business relationship.”The District has had a sister-city agreement with the Thai capital since 1962, and Bangkok’s leader said he expected modern communications technology would grow the relationship further.
| Sisters |
| The District has sister-city agreements with a dozen cities around the world. |
| » Accra, Ghana |
| » Ankara, Turkey |
| » Athens, Greece |
| » Bangkok, Thailand |
| » Beijing, China |
| » Brussels, Belgium |
| » Dakar, Senegal |
| » Paris, France |
| » Pretoria, South AfricaSClB» Rome, ItalySClB» Seoul, South Korea |
| » Sunderland, England |
“City-to-city relations have now become very important because more cities have very similar problems,” said Bangkok Gov. M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who visited DC Water and the University of the District of Columbia during his stay. “Mere discussions and exchanges of experiences and best practices are useful. We can learn from one another. … It’s easy to remain friends through cyberspace.”
D.C. taxpayers don’t bear the burden of the 12 sister-city partnerships, according to a District official.
“It doesn’t cost anything outside of normal operations,” mayoral spokesman Pedro Ribeiro said, adding that city employees who administer the sister-city program mostly handle other projects. “We don’t send people back and forth.”
Though a large delegation from Thailand traveled to the District for Friday’s ceremony, Gray’s office said the mayor has no plans to travel to Thailand. Gray is expected, however, to visit China in June on a trade mission.
The leader of Sister Cities International, the Washington-based group that helps coordinate the relationships, said the agreements pay dividends and help encourage friendly interactions.
“Once you meet someone face to face, it’s a lot harder to not be friends with them,” said Mary Kane, the group’s president and CEO. Bangkok and the District formed a partnership in the early 1960s, and the city’s program has since expanded to include 10 other national capitals and a British city that is George Washington’s ancestral home.
