Use Sister City relations to create positive social change - Aliu

Vice President Aliu Mahama on Monday said Sister City cooperation is a viable means of creating positive social change and urged countries around the world to share their burden of improving living conditions through such relationships.

He said: "Through citizen diplomacies, cities could share the burden of improving the living conditions of their people, but individually, the task would be too formidable."

The Vice President, who was speaking at a luncheon as part of the 12th Annual United States-Africa Sister Cities Conference, being held in Accra, stressed the need to collectively tackle conflicts corruption, and promote investments in education and health.

Sister City relationships would also help to spread the benefit of technology and research, reduce barriers to trade, tackle environmental problems and make development assistance more effective, he said.

The Vice President, who was one time the Chairman of the Tamale-Louisville, Kentucky Sister-Cities Relationship, is honorary patron of the conference.

The 10-day conference, the third to be held in Africa is on the theme, "Strengthening Sister Cities in Africa: A Focus on HIV/AIDS Crises, Business, Trade Investment and Democratic Governance."

Senegal and Kenya are the other two countries to have hosted the conference, which aimed to promote local community initiatives in line with decentralization as well as promote international peaceful co-existence as a prelude to improving international trade and investment.

Vice President Mahama paid tribute to President Dwight Eisenhower of the U.S. who introduced the sister city concept in 1956, as a non-profit, non-governmental network and movement of citizens, corporations, NGOs and institutional partners in all countries around the world.

He said these relationships promoted the sharing of experience, transfer of technology and know-how, school and university exchanges, technical and financial assistance, as well as sporting and cultural exchanges.

Vice President Mahama, therefore, urged all cities and bodies who were not yet members of the sister-cities to join the union for their benefit.

There are about 2,400 sister cities relationships formally registered world-wide.

In Ghana, nine cities and families are in relationships with sister cities in the United States.

These are Accra-Chicago, Tema-San Diego, Kumasi-Charlotte and Newark, Sekondi-Takoradi-Oakland and Boston, Cape Coast- Hanover Park, Tamale-Louisville, Bolgatanga- Glenarden, Ga District-Grand Rapids and Akwapim South District-Lansing.

The Accra Conference is being hosted by the Ghana Sister Cities Foundation and the Metropolitan City of Accra under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.