A New Partner...the Arab Towns Organization

This evening, we signed the formal partnership with the Arab Towns Organization in the company of 50+ mayors, NGO leaders, officials from around the region, as well some Kuwait and French government officials.

Below you'll find my remarks that preceded the signing ceremony.

"Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be with you today. It is nice to see some familiar faces from when we last met in Chicago last spring. Sister Cities International is honored that the Arab Towns Organization chose the anniversary of its founding, today, as the moment to formally begin our partnership.

When I arrived at Sister Cities International just two years ago, our organization was seeking a partner to work with us in this part of the world. As we did our research, one organization kept coming to the fore – the Arab Towns Organization. The ATO’s goals to foster cooperation and communication among Arab leaders at the local level mirror the work of Sister Cities International. Much like the tree planting effort today, the ATO is to be commended for its Arab Urban Development Institute, its Environment Centre for Arab Towns, and other such efforts, which are examples of ATO’s 42-year commitment to improve the world we live in. On behalf of Sister Cities International, happy anniversary.

Sister Cities International is a global network of cities. Nearly 700 U.S. cities are partnered with 2,300 cities in 135 countries on 6 continents. We have existed for 53 years with a mission to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, & cooperation — one individual, one community at a time.

The sister city partnerships are long-term, city-to-city relationships, some of you know as twinning. The U.S. partnerships are run by the local citizens as volunteers. Our partnerships are successful if the citizens from the business community, education sector, and NGOs - a cross section of the community - work with the mayor and city officials.

A few years ago, Sister Cities International launched the Muslim World Partnership Initiative. This is an effort to increase the number of sister city partnerships in Muslim countries. Last week, we celebrated the 100th sister city partnership in a Muslim country with Houston, TX and Karachi, Pakistan. I was struck by the words of the Karachi mayor who responded to a question from the U.S. media about what really happens between sister cities. He said, “The time for gift giving ends today.” He was looking to Houston for some very specific results: business/trade opportunities, infrastructure investment, and tourism. These are two-way partnerships – both cities and its citizens learn and benefit.

Sister city programs promote the traditional cultural, youth and education exchanges. But more common in our ever-changing world, we see city technical assistance, economic and sustainable development endeavors, and international development projects. In some cases, we see U.S. cities working trilaterally or multilaterally on projects.

I could give you examples from Amman and Abu Dhabi, Baghdad and Beirut, Cairo and Casablanca - all of which have U.S. sister cities. Earlier today, I spoke to the mayor of Dubai who will be signing an agreement with Phoenix, Arizona next month – but there are more opportunities for partnerships.

Allow me to be clear about one message: there is great interest by U.S. citizens and mayors to work with Arab cities.

We are living in a world with unprecedented challenges. The complexity and interconnected nature of these problems will not be solved by one single country. We need each other for our cities to grow, for our education and health systems to improve, and for our technology and business sectors to flourish. In short, we need partnerships among people to be successful.

While our national governments work closely together on some issues, on other policies they will disagree. But the real work can continue happen at the local, municipal level despite any diplomatic differences. I call it, Community Diplomacy. This is where Sister Cities International and the Arab Towns Organization can and will have the most impact. Our organizations will bring people and communities together for common purposes and projects, bridging borders, languages, and oceans.

We are honored to become a partner of the Arab Towns Organization. Time for gift giving is over. I look forward to the real work ahead with each of you to help us make this partnership successful. Thank you.