No.105 Establishment of the Inagi City Sister City Friendship Exchange Association

The "Inagi City Sister Friendship City Exchange Association" will be established at the general meeting to be held on September 27, 2020.

In Inagi City, we have established a Sister City partnership with Ozora Town in Hokkaido (then known as Memanbetsu) in November 1991, a Friendship City partnership with Soma City in Fukushima Prefecture in August 2015, and another Friendship City partnership with Nozawa Onsen Village in Nagano Prefecture in November of the same year. Next year, we are preparing to establish a Sister City partnership with Foster City in California, USA.

The progress since the partnership with Memanbetsu Town and the establishment of this exchange association is as follows.

In the fiscal year 2015, the "Inagi City Friendship City Partnership Study Citizens' Meeting" was established, and after visiting Soma City and Nozawa Onsen Village, we considered a friendship city partnership. It was suggested that "by partnering with multiple municipalities, we can support each other and have an opportunity to reassess Inagi City from a broader perspective. In the future, we hope to also consider partnerships with overseas cities." Based on this suggestion, we concluded a friendship city partnership with Soma City and Nozawa Onsen Village, and established the "Inagi City Overseas Sister City Partnership Study Citizens' Meeting" to exchange opinions on exchange projects with overseas cities, where we reached a consensus on forming overseas sister city partnerships.

In the fiscal year 2016, the "Inagi City Overseas Sister City Examination Citizens' Meeting" was established, and it was continued to be discussed. It was suggested that "to actively promote citizen exchanges, it is necessary to establish a citizen-led organization that will be responsible for overseas and domestic sister city and friendship city exchanges, playing roles such as providing information on exchanges and creating opportunities for interaction."

Based on this proposal, from fiscal year 2017 to 2018, the "Preparation Committee for the Establishment of the Inagi City Sister City and Friendship City Exchange Association" was established to discuss the organizational structure and project content, and it was proposed that "the specific implementation and operation of the exchange association will be carried out in collaboration among the Domestic Exchange Committee, Overseas Exchange Committee, and Regional Exchange Committee."

In the fiscal year 2019, we established the "Inagi City Sister City Friendship Exchange Association Preparatory Committee" centered around the members of the establishment preparatory committee. This committee has made concrete preparations for the establishment, led by citizens who will be responsible for the operation of the exchange association in the future, and has determined the operational structure and methods after establishment, allowing us to reach this inaugural general meeting. During this time, we are grateful for the participation of many citizens over a long period, and for the active discussions on a wide range of issues.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are restrictions on the movement of people and contact between individuals, but I believe that mutual support and cooperation between municipalities is meaningful even in such circumstances.

We hope that this exchange association, which is established through citizen participation, will develop through citizen-led management and further deepen connections with Sister Cities and Friendship Cities.