A fortieth year anniversary is cause for celebration, especially when you’re the Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association.
The first Soviet-US sister city to be established, the association celebrated 40 years of activity with its sister city of Tashkent, Uzbekistan last week. As part of this the association hosted an 11-person government group lead by the Deputy Mayor of Tashkent.
The delegation met with representatives from the City of Seattle, educational institutions, the economic development community and real estate to learn and exchange views on a wide variety of topics. Key among them were youth employment and education, urban planning, real estate development and economic development initiatives amongst others.
This intriguing article by Roscius Doan in 1987 recounts the relationship between Seattle and Tashkent. He writes “What is the link between a green, wet North Pacific seaport and an arid, landlocked Central Asian metropolis on ancient caravan routes?… How did this unlikely pairing take place? In August 1971, the mayors of Tashkent, Irkutsk, and Sochi visited Seattle as part of a promotional tour by Alaska Airlines. It seems that the Tashkenters and the Seattleites hit it off.”
It turned out that the people in the two cities shared more things in common than originally thought. Many exchanges have been spawned by the relationship, from art, education, chefs, broadcasters and folk dancers to lawyers, dentistry, medicine, business and trade.
Congratulations!
Photo credit: Dan Peterson
Tashkent delegation meeting with the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County and the Trade Development Alliance