PROVO -- After rejecting several other suitors, Provo's city administration is poised to establish sister city relationships with Nanning, China, and Meissen, Germany.
Mayor Lewis Billings envisions the agreements -- which are still not finalized -- will enable significant exchanges between Provo and the two cities, particularly in the areas of education, culture and commerce."We think there are businesses in our community that would benefit," said Billings. "We've been told by some of our businesses that China is a hard market to penetrate. . . . We hope there can be some kind of economic benefit."
Despite the tremendous population disparity that exists between Provo and Nanning (Provo has just over 110,000 residents while Nanning has about 862,000), both are major hubs for technology companies in their respective countries -- one of the main reasons Provo officials feel the two cities are compatible.
Leland Gamette, Provo's director of economic development, said he intends to contact area business leaders -- including some from technology companies -- to gauge their interest about doing business with companies in Nanning. Gamette said he hopes to convince a group of area business leaders to make a business trip to Nanning in November 2000. Gamette declined to name prospective local companies that might be involved because he has yet to contact most of them.
Unlike its primarily economic motivation for becoming a sister city with Nanning, the Provo-Meissen connection would mainly be guided by educational and historical considerations, according to Gamette. Meissen was the birthplace and home of Dr. Karl G. Maeser, an LDS Church convert who served as principal of the Brigham Young Academy (today known as BYU) from 1876 to 1892.
"It's really tied to the Maeser family and their history with the city of Provo," Gamette said. "It's such a natural tie. . . . (Meissen residents) are just discovering that one of their citizens had such an impact on America. "
Gamette said a sister city relationship with Meissen would likely manifest itself through letter-writing campaigns between students at Maeser Elementary School and Centennial Middle School with students in Meissen schools. There might also be increased student exchange programs between BYU and universities in Meissen. Provo, according to Billings, has been solicited as a sister city by other international cities during the past few years.
"We've had a lot of requests, perhaps because of the (2002 Winter) Olympics," Billings said. "We have turned several of them away."
Although Salt Lake City has had many sister city agreements with foreign countries such as the former Soviet Union and Japan over the past decade, Provo's first and only international sister city relationship was with Yavneh, Israel, in the late 1980s.
When representatives from Nanning and Meissen visited Provo in May, each signed letters of intent for a sister city agreement with the city. Officials from both countries have also been invited to Provo early next month, but the official sister city agreement may not be finished and available for signing at that time.
"I think (both agreements) will happen," Billings said. "But I don't know when."