washington d 1624419 960 720The United States shares 28 “Sister City” or state relationships with Brazil and one of them is between the two capitals,  Washington (D.C) and Brasília that was formed in 2013. Besides Washington D.C and Brasília, other sister cities between United States and Brazil are Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles and Salvador, São Paulo and Miami-Dade County, São Paulo and Chicago, Belo Horizonte and Fort Lauderdale and many others. But what is the  “Sister Cities”?

A sister city, county or state relationship is a broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries. A relationship is officially recognized after the highest elected or appointed official from both communities sign off on an agreement to become sister cities.

A city may have any number of sister cities, with community involvement ranging from a half dozen to hundreds of volunteers. In addition to volunteers, sister city organizations can include representatives from nonprofits, municipal governments, the private sector, and other civic organizations.

df07 301Each sister city organization is independent and pursues the activities and thematic areas that are important to them and their community including municipal, business, trade, educational, and cultural exchanges and projects with their sister city.

Sister Cities International was founded by the american President Dwight D. Ei-senhower in 1956, and serves as a hub for institutional knowledge and best practices for citizen diplomacy. The group has united tens of thousands of citizen diplomats and volunteers in over 500 member communities with over 2,000 partnerships in 145 countries on six continents. You can learn more about Sister Cities International at www.sistercities.org.

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