Mary Kane, President & CEOSister Cities International

April 27, 2012

Sister Cities for the Next

Generation

History of Sister Cities

President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Citizen diplomats?

President Dwight Eisenhower had an interesting idea…………

What if ordinary citizens could be part of our diplomacy effort?

What if we learned about other cultures so we could understand that we were much more alike than different?

What if we traveled and experienced another way of life?

What if we became friends?

And in 1956,

Before Bill Gates & Steve Jobs

We built relationships in what can be referred to as the old fashioned way.

In order to learn about our friends around the world they had to visit us, we had to visit them or we could look them up………..

Technology has changed everything!

The World Around Us

v Economic Slow Down

v Knowledge/Information moves more quickly, thanks to technology innovations and the internet

v Decentralization and democratization

v Increase in public-private partnerships

v Society-wide impact of globalization: nation, state, city, neighborhood, family, individual, as well as schools and businesses

» Five Global Factors

Connection between Sister Cities and International Development

» Humanitarian assistance

» International aid

» Know how

» And a deep desire to do the right thing!

» Win-Win situation for all

» Operations in 136 Countries

» Offices in nearly 2,000 cities abroad on 6 continents

» Workforce in over 600 cities in the U.S.

» 100+ million consumers in the U.S.

Why is Sister Cities so valuable?

A Global Movement

» Partnerships Across the Globe

• Europe – 34%

• Asia & Oceania – 29%

• Americas – 17%

• Eurasia – 7%

• Africa – 6%

• Middle East – 3%

• Caribbean – 3%

What’s Our Business Model?

» Powered by Volunteers

» Sister Cities International’s 4 Core Areas of Business Activity:

· Sustainable & Economic Development

· Humanitarian Assistance

· Youth & Education

· Arts & Culture

» Successful through partnerships between private & public sectors

Sister Cities International’s Community Impact

» How do you answer these questions ?

• MAYOR: How is my sister cities program helping us out of these economic tough times?

• COUNTY EXECUTIVE: You want me to go on a trade delegation?? In an election year??

• GOVERNOR: Sounds like a good program….what do you do again?

Economic Development through Sister Cities Relationships

Name the #1 Thing that

Makes or Breaks a Business?

Relationships.

How do cities and businesses benefit from Sister Cities Relationships?

v Increased Tourism

v Improved Community & Corporate Image

v Reliable Business Contacts

v Legitimacy: Community and City Hall Support in both communities

Economic Development & Relationships

Economic Development & Knowledge

How do cities and businesses benefit from Sister City Relationships?

Ø What your sister city program provides:

v Forums for Complex Global Trade and Development Issues

v Work Force Recruitment

v Cross-Cultural Expertise

v Access to global markets

Case Study: Maryland

» In 2005, one delegation went to China in honor of our 25th anniversary with Anhui, this led to:

• Agreement signed with Multimax, a software company

• Initiated meetings between Costco and officials in Beijing and Shanghai

• Gave ten rural libraries to our friends in Anhui sponsored by Perdue, Johns Hopkins, and M&T Bank

• MD Dept of Environment signed Environmental training agreement with Anhui.

It is a Global Market

» In Thomas Friedman’s article, Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers said,” I always remind people that 96% of our potential customers today live outside of America.”

You never know what will happen!

Iowa, 1985 China, 2011

Washington, DC 2012

» International Launch of new website, logo and tag line is on May 16, 2012, at the National Press club in Washington, DC. Please join us for this or the webinar on May 15, 2012!!

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