WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) US and Russian sister city organizations during meetings in Moscow will discuss ways to increase the number of exchanges between the two countries, Sister Cities International Chairman Emeritus Bill Boerum told Sputnik on Monday ahead of his visit to Russia.
"In Moscow I will be meeting with people from several organizations, including Rossotrudnichestvo, Russian National Congress of Municipalities, the Union of Russian cities," Boerum said. "We will discuss how we can encourage more exchanges between our countries."
Boerum, who is a Country Representative for Russia at Sister Cities International, is going to visit the country in late October. He also plans to speak at Dialogue on the Volga in Volgograd.
"Definitely, we can improve relations between our countries by programs of contacts and exchanges with each other on the sub-national level," Boerum said.
Boerum added that initially such projects can be organized in the form of conferences and can encourage relations between cities. He also noted that about 60 Russian cities have partnerships with about 70 US cities, but not all of these programs are active.
The most promising sister city partnerships, the chairman emeritus said, are between Chicago and Moscow; Los Angeles and St. Petersburg; San Diego and Vladivostok; the US state of Vermont's Burlington and Perm; along with the nuclear research, and once-secret, cities of Los Alamos and Sarov (formerly known as Arzamas-16 until 1991).
Sister Cities International was established in the United States about 60 years ago. It is a global organization of more than 2,000 partnerships between cities in 146 countries, Boerum added.
