ICIE is facilitating development of sister city relationships between Russia and the USA

Vladivostok, 19 December 2018

The Representative office of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ICIE) in the Asia Pacific region helped stage a scheduled meeting between Vladivostok’s Sister City Association and staff from the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok.

The main item on the meeting’s agenda was a review of all the Sister City Association’s activities for 2018 and a discussion about the upcoming schedule of events for 2019.

The two sides discussed different means of promoting global economic ties and socially beneficial projects, which included organizing exchanges of students and professionals from various fields between sister cities of Vladivostok (Russia), Juneau (in the State of Alaska) and San Diego (in the State of California).

Aside from these topics, the U.S. Consul General in Vladivostok and members of the Association discussed the outcomes of the Russian American Pacific Partnership Forum (RAPP), which was held in Anchorage, Alaska from 25 to 26 July 2018 and included a separate session for members of the sister city associations. The 2019 RAPP Forum is expected to be held in one of the cities in Russia, while in 2020, there is an opportunity for one of the sister cities of Vladivostok, San Diego, to host this event. Furthermore, members of Vladivostok’s Sister City Association made a proposal, which was approved by the Consul General, to invite members of the Sister Cities Committee of Juneau to visit Vladivostok and participate in celebrations dedicated to Victory Day. Besides, the possibility of inviting a U.S. Border Patrol vessel to participate in Victory Day celebrations on 9 May was reviewed, and the procedure for doing so, according to all the international laws and regulations, was discussed.

At the end of the meeting, the Head of ICIE’s Representative office in Asia-Pacific voiced his support for the projects under discussion, aimed at strengthening friendly relations between sister cities, and emphasized that ICIE would facilitate the creation and development of ties, including economic ones, between representatives from the United States and Russia.