T his week, Spokane will welcome more than 700 delegates to the 49th Sister Cities International Conference.

Sister Cities International began after World War II along with President Eisenhower’s “People to People” program as a way to establish ties of mutual understanding among peoples of the world. It has come a long way since.

Today it proudly represents more than 2,300 partnerships between cities in the United States and 128 countries abroad.

The Spokane conference will feature a wide range of topics including a series of community summits on citizen diplomacy, a U.S. Africa forum, a youth leadership conference and exploration of ways to reach out to Islamic and Arabic countries. Keynote speaker for the conference is Spokane’s native son Tom Foley, former ambassador to Japan and former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Concurrent with the conference is the Second Sino-U.S. Sister Cities Conference, which will spotlight sister-cities programs in China, Taiwan and Singapore. It is the first such conference held in 10 years.

The fact that these events are being held in Spokane, the smallest city ever to host them, is significant. It marks a recognition by peers of our citizen diplomacy efforts and of their tangible and long-lasting results.

Among Spokane’s four active sister-city relationships, the first was established more than 40 years ago and is one of the oldest in the country. Our city in the Inland Northwest became twinned with a small Japanese suburb of Osaka – Nishinomiya, in 1961.

The original dreams of Spokane businessman (and Nishinomiya native) Ed Tsutakawa and the late Mayor Neal Fosseen were to be realized many times over.

Educational and cultural exchanges have involved thousands of students, teachers and citizen diplomats. Nishinomiya officials have long been a fixture at Spokane’s annual Lilac Parade. The beautiful Japanese Gardens in Manito Park permanently symbolize the sister-city relationship.

One of the best-known connections between Spokane and Nishinomiya is the branch campus of Mukogawa Women’s University. More than 6,000 young Japanese women have studied on the campus in the 15 years since its founding. The economic impact of Mukogawa in Spokane is estimated at $5 million annually.

The Spokane-Limerick (Ireland) Sister City Society was established in 1990 under the leadership of the late Mayor Vicki McNeill and citizen volunteers Maureen Hurl Peterson, Kerry Lynch and many others. Today it has more than 200 members.

This mutual friendship between two “river” cities – Spokane on the Spokane River and Limerick on the Shannon – has resulted in thousands of educational and cultural exchanges. It has provided a working connection between the many Spokane citizens of Irish descent and their ancestral homeland. It also has opened up avenues for trade and business development with the “Celtic Tiger.”

Hyunki Ahn and her husband, Norm Thorpe, have been instrumental in starting and nurturing the Jecheon-Spokane Sister City Association since its beginnings in 1999.

This relationship will open up expanded business opportunities for Spokane companies in South Korean markets. Colleges and universities in Spokane and Jecheon are exploring the possibility of student and other types of educational exchanges. A Spokane trade mission visited just last year.

The Spokane-Jilin City, China, relationship is the most intriguing of all.

It provides Spokane citizens with an opportunity to gain greater understanding of the Chinese culture and also pursue trade and business opportunities with the fastest growing economy in the world. Jilin also was visited last year by a Spokane trade delegation.

These thumbnail sketches of Spokane’s sister city program don’t really do justice to all that has been accomplished over the years by the many Spokane citizens involved.

Spokane truly is an international city. Most of our families trace their roots to immigrants from all parts of the world who built our railroads, worked in our mines and harvested our wheat.

In the past we have recognized this legacy with the Expo ‘74 World’s Fair that attracted 11 countries from around the world to visit here and entertain us for six months.

We are doing it again this week by hosting and recognizing Sister Cities International and the many cities and programs it represents.

In our shrinking world with its rapidly developing technologies in communications and transportation, our neighbors are no longer located in far-off exotic lands but rather just a click of a computer key or a quick hop on a jet away.

Never has there been a need for greater person-to-person international and cultural understanding. That’s what sister-city relationships are all about.