Stockton, California and Asaba, Nigeria poised to help lead a New Era of Sister Cities

The genesis of sister cities, or twin cities, relationships date back to 836 when Paderborn, Germany and Le Mans, France formalized a partnership. Over the last 1,100 years, the adoption of sister city partnerships increasingly spread across Europe and eventually into the United States and other regions of the world.

Sister Cities International was created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House summit on citizen diplomacy. Eisenhower envisioned an organization that could be a hub of peace and prosperity by creating bonds between people from different communities around the world. The mission of this project was to help mend relationships between the United States and countries previously associated with the Axis Powers following World War II. Today, the Sister Cities International network represents 419 partnerships between the U.S. and Germany, Italy, and Japan alone - three countries that represent some of our strongest partners in diplomacy and business.

In general, the partnerships between the U.S. and Europe make up nearly half of the partnerships represented in the SCI network. Due to the vast number of partnerships with Europe, in addition to Europe’s partnerships with other European communities and communities around the globe, it has become increasingly challenging to establish new relationships with communities in Europe.

As we move into the next generation of sister cities, we look towards regions of the globe that present new opportunities to connect people in order to gain “mutual respect and understanding” of one another's cultures and achieve peace and prosperity as we did in the 1950s. As our members look to establish new partnerships, we challenge you to look at communities in regions that you may not be as familiar with. Communities in South America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia provide a great deal of opportunity for learning about new cultures and exploring new business opportunities.