SISTER CITIES
OFFER LINK OVERSEAS

By GEORGE H. RYAN, Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant Governor George Ryan (fifth from left) is joined by representatives
of the Sister Cities program from Italy. Joining him are: Dr. Sylvio (Marchetti),
Director Institute di Cultura Italiano; Martha Atherton; Mrs. Zaffanella; Mayor
Renzo of Cremona, Italy; Lt. Governor Ryan; Secondo Piazza, President of
Cremona Province; Lucia Zanotti, President of Cremona Sister Cities, and
Vice President of Circolo Fodri Culturale.

In 25 communities across the state, small businesses and municipal officials have linked with cities around the world in special trade relationships and cultural exchanges through Sister Cities International (SCI). I feel privileged to chair our Illinois state chapter of this organization.

Sister Cities International represents more than 785 cities in the U.S., who have links to over 1200 cities in 87 foreign nations.

The national program lists the following benefits of the program for participating communities:

• the exchange of ideas with another culture on a direct personal basis;
• the development of a way for the many diverse elements of any community to come together to enjoy and profit from a cooperative program;
• the opening of a dialogue with another culture to find ways to improve urban life;
• helping to contribute to international understanding in a direct personal way; and
• fostering a better understanding of an individual's community by interpreting his way of life to the people of another culture.

International understanding and the SCI cultural exchange are very important. Today we live in an interdependent world with a global economy . . . and in that international marketplace we no longer monopolize the goods and services wanted by the world. The Sister Cities effort can help keep us all better attuned to worldwide trends.

The past decade and a half has witnessed a steady decline in the U.S. share of world markets, from 15% to less than 12%. We aren't even in the top dozen of exporting countries, measured either as a percent of GNP or as per capita dollar volume. Certainly there are many reasons for that, but a former Assistant Secretary of Commerce has written that "our linguistic parochialism ... is one of the most subtle non-tariff barriers to our export expansion."

Consider too, that in Dallas, Texas, 25% of high school seniors could not name the country that forms our states southern border. Only one-quarter of the college students tested knew that Manilla was in the Philippines. 50% of U.S. students can't locate Japan on a map of the world. 63% can't name the two countries involved in the SALT talks.

Less than 2% of Illinois high school students take four years of a foreign language, and even that is barely enough to achieve a minimal level of proficiency. Less than 1% of all foreign language students nationwide are studying the languages most critical to both trade and diplomacy; Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

Overall, our citizens do not know or understand the language, the history, the politics of the culture of our trading partners or our competitors. And in general, it's fair to say that closed minds cannot open foreign markets.

The Sister Cities program can help break down barriers to international understanding, with various communities choosing various levels of participation. For example, school systems offer an obvious channel of participation. They might develop pen pals in the sister city; celebrate each other's holidays in traditional ways; or actually be able to travel to the sister city as an exchange student. Usually, there are exchange visits of city officials and prominent citizens. In addition, many sister cities have reported major benefits from technical and progressional exchanges with their counterparts overseas.

Any small business that would like to join others in establishing a new market for products with special ties to your community, is encouraged to contact my office, Office of Lieutenant Governor Ryan, at 312-917- 5220. •

Page 10 / Illinois Municipal Review / February 1988