Raleigh and Asheville, NC win $100,000 grant through Sister Cities International's Sino-African Initiative....cultural understanding and business go hand in hand through Sister Cities International’s Sino-African Initiative (SAI).

What started as a partnership that took root between Montgomery County and El Salvador last summer is bearing fruit in the form of continued efforts to foster cultural understanding and spur educational and economic outreach.

The friendly sister city relationship between Vallejo and Jincheon-Gun, South Korea, has made progress, promoting friendly ties with one another over the past 10 years. Both cities have envisioned a friendly world where everyday citizens are empowered to act as ambassadors of their cities, connecting with one another to create good friendships and exchange cultural traditions.

Project of exchanging and broadcasting city image videos openes a new model of international inter-city exchange...Since Shanghai and Houston signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on April 1, 2005, the two cities have jointly carried out projects in various fields...

Expect to see all of these fixtures of German culture transplanted in Vandalia on Sept. 9, 10, and 11 when the Oktoberfest comes to the Crossroads of America. Hosted by Sister Cities of Vandalia at the Sports Complex on 1101 Stonequarry Rd., this event is patterned after the two-week festival held annually in Munich, Germany.

Tightened budgets in recent years all but pushed these sister-city efforts into obscurity, but thanks to persistence and local fundraising, the cross-cultural and cross-global friendships are enjoying something of a revival.

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. left the country Monday night, bound for Turkey on a weeklong trip seeking a "sister city" relationship with the municipality of Kahramanmaras....The cultural exchange trip is sponsored and paid for by the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, city spokesman Chris Mims said.

The international sister city movement was established by President Eisenhower in 1950s to promote the idea of citizen diplomacy. Citizen diplomacy is the concept of bringing people together outside of traditional bureaucratic diplomacy to build positive and productive relationships amongst citizens of the world.