Atlanta Sister Cities and how they got paired

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PHOTOS: Atlanta Sister Cities and why we're paired

Photos: Atlanta has 18 sisters around the world. Here's how each partnership came about and some of the things the pairings have accomplished.

Eighteen sisters are a lot to keep track of. Atlanta's first sister city was proclaimed in 1967. Seven years later, the city had five sister cities and Mayor Maynard Jackson created the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission to oversee and expand the program. Each pairing has its own committee that determines the nature of the partnership and programming—cultural, economic, educational and humanitarian. It's an organized affair—the committees issue annual reports and some have their own websites. The cities are honored at the City Hall rotunda, where you'll see 18 national flags centrally displayed. (John Spink / 1997 AJC file photo)

Sister Cities International (SCI) is an umbrella organization that keeps track of city pairings around the world. Not every city partnership is an official Sister City—other designations include Friendship Cities, Peace Cities or various economic missions. As you'd expect from a self-styled international city, Atlanta's work through SCI is considered a model. The organization has repeatedly recognized our city for, well, being a good sister. In 2001, SCI held its international conference here (a scene from the conference's parade down Peachtree Street is shown here). Here then, are the cities that Atlanta calls sister. (John Spink / 2001 AJC file photo)

Salzburg, Austria (1967): Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. established Atlanta's first sister city connection with Salzburg, a cultural capital of Austria and the hometown of Mozart. According to the Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta, the connection between the cities was initiated by the wife of the Austrian consul general in Atlanta. The partnership has not been active for years and the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission doesn't list Salzburg among its 17 current parings. However, the commission is trying to reestablish the relationship and bring Atlanta's number of paired cities up to 18. Salzburg doesn't name Atlanta a sister city but it does list these: Reims, France; Verona, Italy; Leon, Nicaragua; Singida, Tanzania; Busseto, Italy; Vilnius, Lithuania; Dresden, Germany; Kawasaki, Japan; Merano, Italy; and Shaghai, China. (Martin Schalk/Getty Images)

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1972): Atlanta's second sister city was established by Mayor Sam Massell during a visit to Brazil. The international partnership has remained one of the more fruitful ones for Atlanta, with educational, business and cultural exchanges. In recent years, Atlanta has used the partnership to promote tourism to our city and has offered its expertise when Rio hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics. Other Rio sister cities in the U.S.: Miami Beach, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; and Oklahoma City, Okla. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Montego Bay, Jamaica (1972): During the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders held retreats and strategy sessions at Montego Bay. This connection led Mayor Sam Massell and his counterpart to formalize the connection between the two cities. It has been one of Atlanta's most active sister city committees over the decades and in recent years the focus has been on a joint health initiative that sends doctors and nurses to the Jamaican city. Atlanta is the only sister city listed for Montego Bay, according to Sister Cities International. (Grahampurse / Wiki Commons)

Toulouse, France (1974): Mayor Maynard Jackson established Atlanta's connection with the city, partly due to a personal connection—he lived in Toulouse as a child while his mother pursued a doctorate in French. The city has some things in common with Atlanta—it's a regional capital and a big university town situated at the foothills of a mountain range (the Pyrenees). In 2005, Atlanta donated a statue of a phoenix to the city as a memorial to those killed in a 2001 factory explosion. In turn, Toulouse sent more than three tons of relief supplies to Katrina victims in Atlanta the next year. In recent years, Toulouse has been involved in entrepreneur exchanges with Atlanta and participates in the International Startup Exchange Program. Atlanta is the only U.S. city to be paired with Toulouse. (Balmario / Wiki Commons)

Lagos, Nigeria (1974): Atlanta's partnership with Lagos began when several Nigerian alumni of Atlanta schools campaigned for the connection. It helped that Mayor Maynard Jackson had a Nigerian brother-in-law. The Atlanta-Lagos Sister City Committee takes partial credit for establishing Nigeria's consulate in Atlanta and for Delta's nonstop flights between the cities. Atlanta can also boast the fifth-largest population of Nigerians among U.S. cities. Recent partnership activities have involved raising funds for educational programs. Lagos has one other sister city in the U.S.—Gary, Indiana. (Sunday Alamba / AP file)

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK (1977): Atlanta's connection to Newcastle began in 1967 when Martin Luther King Jr. was honored at Newcastle University (Andrew Young was also present). King received an honorary doctorate during that visit and his speech is remembered as the last given outside the U.S. before his assassination. Ten years later, the university honored President Jimmy Carter and the sister-city connection was established. Over the years, the pairing has become one of Atlanta's strongest, producing numerous educational and research partnerships. North Atlanta High School and Georgia State University have participated in student exchange programs, and the cities are also pursuing joint research projects between Newcastle University and Georgia Tech. One of the biggest efforts to come out of the partnership however, is the Atlanta International Startup Exchange Program, which sends and receives entrepreneurs (the same program also works with Toulouse). Another coup for the partnership was getting Sage, a Newcastle-based software company, to move its North American headquarters to Midtown. Sage has also been involved in entrepreneur exchanges and hosts the Sage Summit of international entrepreneurs in Atlanta. Newcastle is also paired with Little Rock, Ark. (British Tourist Authority)

Taipei, Taiwan (1979): Mayor Maynard Jackson established this pairing with his counterpart, Mayor Teng-hui Lee, who would go on to become Taiwan's first democratically elected president. Fourteen years later, Jackson would again strengthen the two cities' connections during his third term as mayor. Local connections are extremely important for Taipei in light of the fact that the U.S. and Taiwan don't have official diplomatic relations. Since 2006, Atlanta has been the headquarters for the Taipei Economic and Culture Office, which promotes economic (especially agricultural) links between Taiwan and the American Southeast. Taipei is paired with 49 cities worldwide, 12 of which are in the U.S.: Houston, San Francisco, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Marshall (Texas), Atlanta, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Boston, Dallas and Miami Dade County. (Ashley Pon/Getty Images)

Daegu, South Korea (1981): Mayor Maynard Jackson established this partnership during a visit to South Korea. Daegu is a major manufacturing city (it's the birthplace of Samsung) but its partnership with Atlanta has been more cultural and educational in nature. One issue that the two cities have worked together on in recent years has been water management. Atlanta is the only U.S. city paired with Daegu. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Brussels, Belgium (1982): Atlanta's connection with Brussels began in 1978 with a literal flight connection. That year, Sabena Belgian World Airlines became ATL's first foreign carrier. Five years later, Mayor Andrew Young started the sister city connection with Brussels. The partnership has been largely inactive but an effort to restart it began in 2016, and Delta resumed its own direct flight with Brussels earlier this year. In the U.S., Brussels is also paired with Washington D.C. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (1987): The Atlanta Sister Cities Commission describes the origin of this partnership as a 'people-to-people exchange' that grew from a trade mission in 1985. Two years later, Mayor Andrew Young made the sister city connection official. The cities have worked together on educational and cultural exchanges, and their fire departments have conducted joint training and humanitarian projects. Atlanta is the only U.S. city paired with Port of Spain. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Tbilisi, Georgia (1988): It was during the years of glasnost that an Atlanta citizen diplomat named Leslie Shulten reached out to the capital of Soviet Georgia to establish a sister city relationship. Today, two organizations keep the lines of communication open between our Georgia and the now-independent country of Georgia. The Atlanta-Tbilisi Sister Committee generally fosters cultural, legal and educational programs between the two cities while the Georgia to Georgia Foundation is more focused on economic and humanitarian programs between the two Georgias. Tbilisi is paired with a total of 19 sister cities, with Atlanta being the only one in the U.S. (Marcin Konsek / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Olympia, Greece (1994): Several years after Atlanta was awarded the 1996 Summer Olympics, Mayor Maynard Jackson created this relationship with the birthplace of the ancient Olympic games. The Atlanta-Olympia Sister Cities Committee continues to sponsor cultural programs, including an annual Greek film festival. Olympia is also paired with Colorado Springs. (Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

Bucharest, Romania (1994): Atlanta's pairing with Bucharest got off to an embarrassing start when Mayor Bill Campbell's office offered a resolution to City Council to make 'Bucharest, Hungary' a sister city. The resolution passed with the error intact, mea culpas were issued, and a new resolution was offered to the true 'Bucharest, Romania.' The Atlanta-Bucharest Sister City Committee website simply states that the group has sponsored 'best practice exchanges focused on urban development, student exchanges and cultural events.' Bucharest is paired with 23 sister cities, with Atlanta the only one in the U.S. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Cotonou, Benin (1995): This partnership began when the first democratically elected president of Benin brought a trade delegation to Atlanta. The group met with Mayor Bill Campbell on the heels of a visit they made to President Clinton. Like Atlanta, Cotonou has been a commercial crossroads for 150 years. The city pairing has produced several humanitarian programs. Atlanta is the only city listed as a sister city for Cotonou. (Mayeul Akpovi / Wiki Commons)

Salcedo, Dominican Republic (1996): Salcedo is a small farming municipality and provincial capital in the Dominican Republic. It's also the first place Dominicans think of when you mention civil rights. Salcedo is the home of the Mirabal sisters (also known as Las Mariposas), who were murdered in 1960 for opposing dictator Rafael Trujillo. In 1996, Victor Ramirez, a Dominican transplant to Atlanta, helped link the cities based on their shared civil rights history. The Atlanta-Salcedo Sister Cities Committee, which is still chaired by Ramirez, had a role in getting Delta to start direct flights to the Dominican Republic. And in 2008, the committee opened Parque Atlanta in Salcedo, a public performing space dedicated to the Mirabal sisters. In recent years, the committee has worked with the Dominican International Association to raise funds for childrens hospitals in both cities. Atlanta is Salcedo's only sister city. NOTE: Contact us if you would like to share a photo of Salcedo to be included here. (Google Maps)

Nuremberg, Germany (1998): Like Atlanta, Nuremberg was burned to the ground when it found itself on the losing side of a war (WWII in their case). And like Atlanta, the city has tried to reckon with its past by rebuilding itself as a center for civil and human rights. This is why in 1998, Norbert Schurgers, the director of Nuremberg's Office of International Relations, reached out to Atlanta to become a sister city. Schurgers told the AJC, 'Germany was destroyed by bombs. You learned a lot from history. We try to learn as well.' Atlanta participates in a Nuremberg-based fellowship that awards stipends to writers and artists from Nuremberg's sister cities, allowing them to work in the city for two weeks. Another Nuremberg award program works with the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta to honor human rights workers. In recent years, Maynard Jackson High School has participated in a student exchange program with a Nuremberg school. The sister cities jointly sponsor other cultural programs as well. Atlanta is Nuremberg's only U.S. sister city. (Johannes Kerstiens / Wiki Commons)

Ra'anana, Israel (2001): This partnership was established by Arnold Heller, an Atlanta educator who runs exchange programs and who was already active with another Sister City committee. Heller, who still chairs the Atlanta-Ra'anana Sister City Committee, says that he was looking for a high school to match students from North Atlanta High. A school in Ra'anana fit the bill—like North Atlanta, it also had a global entrepreneurship program—and this became the seed from which the city partnership grew. Over the years, the committee has worked with both cultural and economic programs between the two cities. Ra'anana is home to many high-tech companies, including Amdocs, which has offices in Atlanta. In 2015, Mayor Kasim Reed and a delegation of Atlanta business leaders visited Ra'anana on a cyber security mission. Atlanta is Ra'anana's only U.S. sister city. (Ruby Leibowitz / Wiki Commons)

Fukuoka, Japan (2005): Atlanta has had an unofficial partnership with Fukuoka since 1994 but formalized the sister city pairing in 2005. Fukuoka is Japan's fifth-largest city and like Atlanta, it's a regional capital and transportation hub. It also hosts a large share of conferences and sporting events. The Atlanta-Fukuoka partnership is responsible for an annual student exchange and has sent delegates from both cities to promote trade and tourism. Fukuoka's only other U.S. sister city is Oakland, Calif. (Muneaki / Wiki Commons)

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Eighteen sisters are a lot to keep track of. Atlanta's first sister city was proclaimed in 1967. Seven years later, the city had five sister cities and Mayor Maynard Jackson created the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission to oversee and expand the program. Each pairing has its own committee that determines the nature of the partnership and programming—cultural, economic, educational and humanitarian. It's an organized affair—the committees issue annual reports and some have their own websites. The cities are honored at the City Hall rotunda, where you'll see 18 national flags centrally displayed. (John Spink / 1997 AJC file photo)

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