[Press Release] : Mayor to participate in sister city signing ceremony in Laoshan District, China

[pr-l at news.gocolumbiamo.com]

You have received this message because you subscribe to the City of
Columbia's Web Mail service. To view linked material click on provided
links or copy and paste them into your browser's address menu.
______________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: Robert Ross, Public Communications - (573) 874-7220

Mayor to participate in sister city signing ceremony in Laoshan
District, China

COLUMBIA, MO (May 5, 2006) -- Mayor Darwin Hindman will co-sign a
Sister City Proclamation in Laoshan District, China on May 16 or May 17.
The signing of the proclamation will begin a sister city relationship
that was previously approved by the City Council when it authorized the
mayor to issue a proclamation establishing a sister city relationship
with Laoshan District that is located in Qingdao, Shandong Province,
Republic of China.

Traveling with the Mayor and Mrs. Hindman are: Mrs. Hsiao-Mei
Wiedmeyer, president, Columbia Friends of China; Jim Demain; Chen Fan;
Mary Jo Herde; Carla Sarva; Al Tacker; Zhao Xinting; and Peng Zhuang.
Mayor Hindman's travels associated with the sister city signing ceremony
will be paid by Columbia Friends of China, a local not-for-profit
corporation that requested the city enter into a sister city
relationship. All additional expenses for Hindman and all expenses for
Mrs. Hindman will be borne by the Hindmans personally.

Hindman said that a sister city relationship with a Chinese city is
very timely. He said that there are more than 1,000 Chinese who live in
Columbia and China is rapidly growing in influence politically and
economically. Hindman hopes that founding the sister city relationship
will lead to exchanges and further trips by Columbia delegations in the
near future.

Laoshan District will be Columbia's fifth sister city. The others are
Hakusan (formerly Matto), Japan; Kutaisi, Georgia; Sibiu, Romania; and
Suncheon, Korea.

Laoshan has approximately 200,000 citizens with a land area of about
389 square kilometers.

Under Council Policy Resolution 32-96, local organizations can request
that the City Council consider sister city relationships if the
organization agrees to coordinate the relationship on behalf of the city
and that funding is primarily from non-city funds.

- 30 -
______________________________________________________

Archived press releases can be viewed online at: 
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Public_Comm/Public_Information/Press_Releases/

______________________________________________________

If you would like to stop receiving messages, modify list options, or
subscribe to other lists visit the Web Mail section of our Web site and
follow the instructions provided. 

http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Web_Mail/index.php