This article is about partnerships between towns distant from each other; see Twin cities are either: two towns or cities that are geographically close to each other, and often referred to collectively; or two distant cities which, perhaps because of similar circumstances, such as industrial decline, or demographics, agree to partner each other and share expertise (e.g. Birmingham and Chicago). This... Twin cities for the different concept of physically neighbouring cities.

Town twinning or sister cities is a concept where A street in Ynysybwl, Wales, relatively stereotypical of a small town A town is usually an urban area which is not considered to rank as a city. As with cities, there is no standard universal definition of a town: the criterion in use in any country is likely to arise... towns or CITY (Citytv) Slogan: Everywhere! Toronto, Ontario Channel 57 / Cable 7 Owner CHUM Limited Founded 1972 Signal Radius 1740 kW (total) Citytv System CKVU (Vancouver) CITY (Toronto) CITY (often referred to as Citytv Toronto or just City) is a television station based in Toronto, Ontario. Owned by CHUM Limited, it is... cities from geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links. In Europe, such pairs of towns are known as twin towns; in World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is the third largest continent in area and in population after Eurasia and Africa. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the... North America and Australasia is the area that includes Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the many smaller islands in the vicinity, most of which are the eastern part of Indonesia. The name was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756). He derived it from the Latin... Australasia, the term sister cities is used for the same concept. Twin towns often (though by no means always) have similar demographic and other characteristics. Sometimes, even larger areas enter into "twinning" agreements, such as that between the Province is a name for a secondary, or subnational entity of government in most countries. In some countries an alternative term is used, such as state (in Australia and the United States), department (in France), or region (in Italy, where a province is a subdivision within a region, making it... provinces of Not to be confused with the unrelated provinces of Henan and Hunan 海南省 Hǎinán Shěng Abbreviation: 琼 (pinyin: Qióng) Origin of Name 海 hǎi - sea 南 nán - south south of the sea Administration Type Province Capital and Largest City... Hainan in The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.3... China and Jeju Province Korean Name Revised Romanization Jeju-do McCune-Reischauer Cheju-do Hangul 제주도 Hanja 濟州道 Short Name Jeju (Cheju; 제주; 濟州) Statistics Population 560,000 (2004, estimate) Area 1,845.55 km² Capital Jeju City (Jeju-si) Administrative Divisions 2 cities (Si); 2... Jeju in South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK; Korean: Daehan Minguk (Hangul: 대한 민국; Hanja: 大韓民國)), is a country in East Asia, covering the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. To the north, the Republic of Korea borders North Korea, with which it formed a... South Korea.

The concept can be likened to a scaled up version of a " Pen pals (or penpals or pen friends) are people who regularly write each other, in particular in the case of snail mail. A penpal relationship is often used to practice writing and reading in a foreign language, improving literacy, to learn more about other countries and life-styles, and just... pen pal" scheme, where the "pals" are whole towns or cities. In practice, the twinning arrangements often lead to This article or section should be merged with Foreign student exchange Student exchange, youth exchange or high school exchange is applied to the age group of 15 to 19 and refers to extended stays of students of one country with families in another country, such as under the supervision of... student exchanges, as well as economic and cultural collaborations.

Europe

The practice of town twinning was developed in World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is conventionally considered a continent, which, in this case, is more of a cultural distinction than a geographic one. ( National Geographic, however, officially recognises... Europe after the Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (60,000 ft) into the air. August 9, 1945 World War II was a global conflict that started in 7 July 1937 in Asia and 1 September 1939 in Europe and lasted until 1945, involving the majority of the... Second World War as a way to bring European people into a closer understanding of each other and to promote cross-border projects of mutual benefit. While still more popular as a concept in Europe than elsewhere, the idea has now spread to other continents, leading to some very interesting pairings.

Within Europe, town twinning is now supported by the The European Union or EU is an intergovernmental organisation of European countries, which currently has 25 member states. The Union was established under that name by the Treaty on European Union (commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty) in 1992. However, many aspects of the EU existed before that date through... European Union. The support scheme was established in 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Years: 1986 1987 1988 - 1989 - 1990 1991 1992 Decades: 1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1989 in topic: Arts Architecture - Art - Film - Literature - Music - Television Science and technology Aviation - Rail... 1989. In 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Years: 2000 2001 2002 - 2003 - 2004 2005 2006 Decades: 1970s 1980s 1990s - 2000s - 2010s 2020s 2030s Centuries: 20th century - 21st century - 22nd century News by month: Jan... 2003 an annual budget of about 12 million Euro (disambiguation). The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve of the twenty-five European Union member states. These twelve states, which form the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), are: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. It is... euros was allocated to about 1,300 projects. E.U. sister cities are a separate affiliaton from the international sister cities associations.

North America

The American "Sister Cities" program was begun in Years: 1953 1954 1955 - 1956 - 1957 1958 1959 Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1956 in topic: Arts Architecture - Art - Film - Literature - Music Science and technology Aviation - Rail transport - Science - Television Other topics Canada - Sport Lists of leaders: State leaders - Religious... 1956 by Dwight D. Eisenhower Order: 34th President Term of Office: January 20, 1953–January 20, 1961 Predecessor: Harry S. Truman Successor: John F. Kennedy Date of Birth: Tuesday, October 14, 1890 Place of Birth: Denison, Texas Date of Death: Friday, March 28, 1969 Place of Death: Washington, D.C. First... Dwight Eisenhower. It was originally administered as part of the National League of Cities, but since 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). Contents // 1 Events 1.1 January 1.2 February 1.3 March 1.4 April 1.5 May 1.6 June 1.7 July 1.8 August 1.9 September 1.10 October 1... 1967 has been a separate organization, Sister Cities International (SCI), which is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network creating and strengthening partnerships between U.S. and international communities in an effort to increase global cooperation at the municipal level, to promote cultural understanding and to stimulate economic development. SCI leads the movement for local community development and volunteer action by motivating and empowering private citizens, municipal officials and business leaders to conduct long-term programs of mutual benefit.

See also

• This is a list of twin towns or sister cities - that is, pairs of towns or cities in different countries which have town twinning arrangements. Where known, the date of formation of the twinning agreement is included in parenthesis. Note that the list is likely to always remain incomplete, since... List of twin towns and sister cities - a comprehensive, though incomplete, list of twinning arrangements, arranged by country.

Informal usage

Sometimes, people will use the phrase "sister cities" to mean cities that are neither very close together, nor from two different cultures and officially twinned, but rather two cities with similar cultures and/or historical background, as with Galveston redirects here. For the Galveston in Indiana, see: Galveston, Indiana Galveston is a city and island located in Galveston County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 57,247. In 1900, the island was struck by a hurricane, an event that... Galveston, Texas and New Orleans (French: Nouvelle-Orléans) is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the population of New Orleans is 484,674. New Orleans is co-extensive with Orleans Parish. New Orleans is a southern city known for its multicultural... New Orleans, Louisiana, two cities that were historically major Southern ports on the The Gulf of Mexico is a major body of water bordered and nearly landlocked by North America. The gulfs eastern, north, and northwestern shores lie within the United States of America (specifically, the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas); its southwestern and southern shores lie within Mexico... Gulf coast, and Charleston is an American city located in Charleston County, South Carolina. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Towne, Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location in 1690, when it had a population of 1200 and was the fifth largest city in North America. It adopted its... Charleston, South Carolina and Boston redirects here. For other uses, see Boston (disambiguation). Boston is the capital of and the largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. It is the unofficial capital of the region known as New England. It is also one of the oldest and wealthiest cities in... Boston, Massachusetts (see the Charleston article for a description of their colonial-era relationship).

External links

• Town-twinning information (http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/towntwin/index_en.html) from the Politics of the European Union European constitution European Parliament Council of the European Union European Council European Commission Political parties in the European Union European Parliament party groups Elections in the European Union: 2004 The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive of the European... European Commission
• Sister Cities International (http://www.sister-cities.org/)