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Sister Cities International is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, particularly through the establishment of "sister cities". More than 2,000 cities, states and counties are partnered in 136 countries around the world.〔(Sister Cities International Fact Sheet )〕 The organization "strives to build global cooperation at the municipal level, promote cultural understanding and stimulate economic development".〔(Sister Cities International Mission )〕 As the official organization which links jurisdictions in the U.S. with communities worldwide, Sister Cities International recognizes, registers, and coordinates sister city, county, municipalities, oblasts, prefectures, provinces, regions, state, town, and village linkages. The U.S. sister city program began in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a people-to-people, citizen diplomacy initiative. Originally a program of the National League of Cities, Sister Cities International became a separate, nonprofit corporation in 1967, due to the growth and popularity of the U.S. program. ==Sister Cities program== The Sister Cities program is designed as means for cultural exchange. A community of any size decides to join with a community in another nation to learn more about one another. Therefore, a sister city, country, oblast, prefecture, province, region, state, territory, town, or village relationship is a broad-based, officially approved, long-term partnership between two communities. Sister City relationships begin for a variety of reasons. Generally sister city partnerships share similar demographics and town size. Partnerships may arise from business connections, travel, similar industries, diaspora communities, or shared history. For example, Portland, Oregon and Bologna, Italy’s partnership arose from shared industries in bio-technology and education, an appreciation for the arts, and a “similar attitude towards food”,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.portland-bologna.org/?page_id=2 )〕 whereas Chicago’s link with Warsaw, Poland began with the city’s historic Polish community. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sister Cities International」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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