In 2019, Baltimore and Kawasaki celebrated the 40th year anniversary of their sister city relationship. A mayoral-level delegation from Kawasaki visited Baltimore to commemorate the anniversary and renew the sister city agreement. To mark the anniversary, the Baltimore-Kawasaki Sister City Committee created an anniversay “Legacy Video” with stories from its emeritus members about the history of Baltimore-Kawasaki Sister Cities.
On December 3, 2019, European Union Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis leads a delegation of over 20 EU Member State Ambassadors for a day of engagement with Maryland state and local officials, students, educators, environmental and trade organizations.
Public events include:
Events are free but advance registration is required.
Organized by the Delegation of the European Union to the United States. Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee is helping promote the events.
Check out our slideshow with highlights from Baltimore Sister Cities activities and events in 2018!
And here are photos from our holiday party in January 2019 where we celebrated our 2018 accomplishments.
The GreenPort Congress is an international sustainability-themed port conference held every year (usually in Europe). In 2018, it came North America for the first time. It took place in Baltimore, Maryland USA in May 2018 at the Baltimore Convention Center and was hosted by Port of Baltimore, the Maryland Department of Transportation, and the Maryland Department of the Environment. The international sister cities network helped bring international speakers to Baltimore for the conference.
The GreenPort Congress conference provides the right forum to create partnerships working towards making our Ports Greener and Smarter, allowing a coordinated approach of the port-marine related industry and business. GreenPort Congress targets new innovations in equipment with leading edge technology that improves port efficiency and productivity, exploring latest practices and ensuring port users keep up to pace with current and forthcoming legislation.
Conference website: www.greenport.com/congressamerica
Balancing Environmental Challenges with Economic Demands
Baltimore Sister Cities and the Maryland Sister States Program helped the Maryland Port Administration attract international speakers and attendees to this conference from Japan, Liberia, Germany, and the Netherlands, and we helped plan some of the programming. In addition, the ports of Seattle and Tacoma brought their sister ports from Japan: Kobe and Kitakyushu. Speakers from our sister countries talked about their innovations that make ports more sustainable.
The sister city/state network brought these speakers to the conference from Japan, the Netherlands, Liberia, and Germany:
This special “Sister Port Panel” session at the conference highlighted the benefits of sister ports working together to do knowledge exchanges, solve problems, and collaborate on projects. The panel featured these ports: Ports of Tacoma and Seattle from USA with their sister ports Kobe and Kitakyushu in Japan, and Port of Monrovia in Liberia (Liberia has two sister states relationships with Maryland and a sister city relationship with Baltimore). The panel was moderated by Patrick Verhoeven from the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH).
One of the outcomes of this panel was that the ports of Tacoma and Baltimore invited Alex Noah, Port Manager from Liberia, to do a residency at both US ports in fall 2018.
A demo of innovative trash-eating technologies that clean the debris out of our waterways, including Baltimore’s Mr. Trash Wheel and the Waste Sharks (aqua-drones) from RanMarine Technology in Rotterdam (Baltimore’s sister city in the Netherlands). Demo took place on May 18 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
Baltimore Sister Cities, in partnership with Office of the Secretary of State’s Maryland Sister States Program and the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, hosted a special invitation-only international “Sister Port Reception” to welcome the speakers from their sister countries. (This was not part of the official conference program.).
Welcome remarks at this reception provided by:
Attendees included: Our speakers from Greenport Congress; reps from state of Maryland and Baltimore city government; embassies from Japan and the Netherlands; reps from ports in US, Japan, the Netherlands, Liberia, and Germany; businesses; and trade development organization — providing a unique opportunity for people from a wide range of sectors to meet each other and network on trade and sustainability topics.
Corporate sponsors:
See a slideshow about the ports featured at the reception (ports of Baltimore, Rotterdam, Monrovia, Bremerhaven Kobe, Kitakyushu, Seattle, and Tacoma).
“The international city network was instrumental in the success of the first GreenPort Congress held in North America. The sister city committees helped with recruiting speakers and assisting with planning the conference. The sister port cities shared with the conference delegates the steps that they have taken to ”green” their ports. The feedback from the delegates was very favorable. The GreenPort Congress conference event planner, Mercator Media LLC, was so pleased with the sister port element that it will try to include the sister cities perspective in future conferences.” —Barbara McMahon, General Manager, Safety, Environment & Risk Management, MDOT Maryland Port Administration
“ I must say this evening’s reception is the perfect compliment to the Green Ports Congress. I acknowledge and congratulate Rachel Sengers and Baltimore Sister Cities for having the vision to host this reception. Overseeing the Maryland Sister States Program is one of the most rewarding aspects of my position as Secretary of State. It has afforded me the opportunity to make a real difference for the State, and as Governor Hogan likes to say, “Change Maryland for the better.” I also have to credit the volunteers and Sister States of Maryland, Inc. board members for doing so much of the hard work and putting the mission and vision of Sister Cities/Sister States into action. It is also a great pleasure to work with Baltimore Sister Cities. It is both impressive and inspiring how much the members of the Maryland and Baltimore programs collaborate with and support one another. I will finish my remarks by thanking all of the international speakers here with us this evening for coming to Maryland to share their expertise on how to make ports more environmentally sustainable. You do such important work and we all benefit when information is shared and studied.” — Excerpt from the welcome remarks from John C. Wobensmith, Maryland Secretary of State, at the May 17 International Sister Port Reception.
Theatre artist and educator Kathie diStefano from Rotterdam’s Avalanche Arts employs participatory techniques and theatre art to create awareness with youth and seniors about the environment through creative strategies to recycle and make smart consumer decisions. Ms. diStefano is planning to conduct several activities in Baltimore during the 2017 Spring school semester, including:
“Operation Trash” project is designed to educate and connect high school students in Baltimore and the greater Rotterdam area. This virtual exchange project focuses on environmental themes. Improvisational theatre techniques and remote learning techniques will be used to teach sustainability, trash reduction, recycling, and inspire environmental stewardship. Through the use of classroom activities, improvisational theatre techniques, community events, and social media, teenagers in both cities will learn about sustainability, trash reduction, recycling and get inspired to become environment stewards for their communities. The project leverages an existing environmental educational program developed by Avalanche Arts and used in Rotterdam schools.
Photos from Avalanche Arts’ “Operation Trash” workshops with students in Rotterdam
Financial support has been provided by CSX, MECU Foundation, and the Netherlands chapter of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF).
More info about the exchange’s sponsors and partners
Ms diStefano will do an artist residency at this school in spring 2017. She will direct an “Eco News Show” theatre production with the school’s children, leveraging her experience with similar productions that she has executed with students and community residents in Rotterdam. It is a way for children to learn about trash and recycling through comedy and improvisational theatre. The residency involves 2 groups of middle school students; they will write the script, act, and work on sound, lighting, and scene — they will be involved in all aspects of the production.
Mann Residential School is on Sheppard Pratt campus in Towson, a suburb of Baltimore. It is a special school for children with multiple challenges and emotional disabilities.
More information about the ongoing Baltimore-Rotterdam art/education exchange is on the exchange’s website: harbortraces.org
Baltimore sister city committees operate under the auspices of the City of Baltimore’s Office of the Mayor.
Brandon M. Scott, Mayor
Previous mayor’s Dec 2015 press release about Baltimore Sister Cities becoming a 501(c)(3).
Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. is a 501c3 organization incorporated in the State of Maryland.
Member of Sister Cities International, Maryland Nonprofits, World Trade Center Institute, Visit Baltimore, & affiliate of Maryland International Education Consortium.