By Kay Scrimger
July 24, 2006

Conference President Dearborn Mayor Michael A. Guido participated in the 50th Anniversary Conference of Sister Cities International held in Washington (DC) July 13 through 15.

Guido presided over the Presidential Luncheon July 14. “This is an especially moving day because one of Dearborn’s Sister Cities is Qana in southern Lebanon. We are all joined in the hope that the conflict there can be resolved as soon as possible and that peace can be restored,” the mayor said.

Guido noted that more than 25 percent of the population of his city is composed of people from the Middle East.

Earlier that morning, as news reports detailed the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East, the 1,200 Sister Cities delegates and 200 youth from 39 countries paused for a moment of silence before the opening of a plenary session on the Islamic Peace and Friendship Initiative.

Also addressing the luncheon were Ruben Barrales, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House, and Ambassador Kenton Keith of the Coalition for Citizen Diplomacy, who highlighted the coalition’s recent report of the National Diplomacy on Citizen Diplomacy.

In addition to Guido, Washington (DC) Mayor Anthony Williams welcomed the participants to his city July 13 and at a reception that evening.

Kansas City (MO) Mayor Kay Barnes was a key speaker at the workshop, “Achieving the Millennium Development Goals through City to City Partnerships.”

Riverside (CA) Mayor Ronald Loveridge participated in the “Mayor’s Forum on Globalization and Local Economic Development.”

“International Engagement as an Economic Development Tool” was a mayors’ roundtable session in which Loveridge was a participant. Coral Gables Mayor Don Slesnick II and Claire McLeveighn, Director of External Affairs and International Relations, Atlanta, also were speakers at this session.

Wilmington (DE) Mayor James Baker participated in the mayors’ roundtable “Innovative Technology” session.

The sister city movement traces its beginnings to a White House Summit on Citizen Diplomacy, convened by President Dwight David Eisenhower. On September 11, 1956, President Eisenhower delivered a speech calling on delegates to reach out in the name of peace and understanding to communities around the world and forge ties for peace.

Sister Cities (www.sister-cities.org) represents more than 2,500 communities in 134 countries and is a citizen diplomacy network creating and strengthening partnerships between the U.S. and communities abroad. The executive director is Tim Honey.