SUBJECT
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Staff report on the implementation of the Binational Collaboration Program aimed at enhancing cooperation and mutual benefit between the City of Laredo and different regions in Mexico.
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PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION
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BACKGROUND
Sister Cities International was created at President Eisenhower's 1956 White House summit on citizen diplomacy, where he envisioned a network that would be a champion for peace and prosperity by fostering bonds between people from different communities around the world. A sister city, county, or state relationship is a broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries. A relationship is officially recognized after the highest elected or appointed official from both communities sign off on an agreement to become sister cities.3
The program was implemented in Laredo in 1984 with the agreement between the City of Laredo and Murray Bridge, Australia and in November of 1986 with Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
Binational cooperation between communities from the US and Mexico "is largely based on specific areas of interaction such as cuisine, art, and culture; economic ties; shared educational resources; health and medical care; environment; criminal justice; transportation and border crossings; urban services; and familial and friendship bonds. What is generally missing from these cooperative efforts is the institutionalization of the activities."2
The Laredo Binational Collaboration Program seeks to establish a more defined process for collaboration between Laredo, Texas and the different municipalities, states and agencies in Mexico.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
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STAFF RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends implementation of the program
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Fiscal Impact
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