Skip to main content
Content current as of 04/01/25

Sister Cities

The City of Tacoma has 15 Sister Cities, all of which have aspects similar or complementary to Tacoma’s economic character.

The first Sister City Program, Sister Cities International, was created in 1956 at the request of President Eisenhower, giving national focus to affiliations between cities in the United States and in other countries. The goal of the program is to promote deeper cultural understanding, international visitation, and hospitality that leads to long lasting relationships. More recently, Sister City links have become an increasingly important conduit for economic development.

The City of Tacoma has 15 Sister Cities, all of which have aspects similar or complementary to Tacoma’s economic character. Tacoma’s Sister City activities are as diverse as its membership. Some examples of activities include Student Exchanges, Sports Exchanges, Performing Arts Festivals, Arts Exchanges, and the International Film Festival.

Each Sister City has a citizen-based Sister City Committee. The Sister City Committees are all organized under a 501 c (3) called the Sister City Council of Tacoma.

Contact

Debbie Bingham
Community and Economic Development Program Manager

(253) 591-5117

Tacoma Sister Cities Council

For a map of our Sister Cities, updated information on local activities, and to learn more about the Council, please visit their website.
Learn more

Tacoma's Sister Cities

Tacoma’s Sister City since 1986.

In the northern region of western Norway, about midway between Bergen and Trondheim, lies Aalesund, a town which, with its population of 35,000, constitutes the natural hub of northwestern Norway. By tradition, a fishing, industrial, and commercial town, Aalesund is today a modern business center with interests reaching far and wide. The sound thrusts its way into the heart of the town, making boats and the sea an integral part of the townscape. The waterway is jammed with fishing boats. Aalesund offers a wide range of shopping, cultural, and service facilities. Its cultural attractions include art galleries, churches, and an aquarium.The town is also an important regional communications center, linked to the surrounding area and the rest of the country by air, road, and sea. Aalesund was founded in 1848, razed by fire in 1904, and rebuilt in the contemporary Jugendstil, a style of architecture, which gives the center of the town a highly distinctive appearance. Aalesund is located in the heart of Norway’s most famous tourist region and thus makes an excellent base for excursions to such renowned scenic attractions as the Geiranger fjord, Trollstigen, and the island of Runde.

Committee Chair, Abby Wigstrom

Tacoma’s Sister City since 2012.

The Passion of Glass on the French Riviera. Between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, with vast natural spaces, Biot-Sophia Antipolis is a French city with one foot in the past and another in the future. On one hand, with 10,000 inhabitants, the city of Biot has a significant part of the technopole Sophia Antipolis, with its innovative and international companies, actively involved in designing the contemporary face of the town. On the other hand, the historical center of the town has maintained its identity and quality of life, both inherited from its history. Arts and crafts are perceived by strolling through the cobbled streets where the Templars were living more than 800 years ago. Moreover, the free event “Biot and the Templars” annually hosts around 50,000 people. Biot-Sophia Antipolis is also renowned since the 50’s as the “City of Glass,” thanks to the creativity of its glassmakers and its specific bubble glass. With two labels, “Ville et Métiers d’Art” (“Craft’s city”) and the “Creative Tourism Network,” the city possesses a diversity of creators combined around the glass. Biot is a very picturesque, popular medieval village, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea between Antibes and Nice.

Committee Chair, Cathy Sarnat

Boca del Rio, located in the center of State of Veracruz, Mexico, has become Tacoma’s 14th Sister City. Washington State’s rapidly growing Latino community, 85 percent of which is Mexican or of Mexican descent, is a major contributor to our economy, education, and civic process. A relationship with Boca del Rio will help improve Tacoma’s position as an advantageous place to live, learn, and conduct business.

The Sister Cities Committee has created a work plan through 2018 to ensure that Boca del Rio’s relationship with Tacoma fulfills the spirit of the Sister Cities Program of promoting global community through citizen diplomacy, cultural education, and economic development. This new relationship gives Tacoma an opportunity to build upon its strengths while creating economic, pedagogical, and civic value.

Tacoma and Boca del Rio are both port cities with World Trade Centers. They also have similar programs in the arts, and in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and have backgrounds in environmental cleanup work.

Tacoma’s Sister City since 2017.

Brovary is located within seven kilometers from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, and has a population of more than 100,000. Ukraine is a diverse country with many ethnic backgrounds, and there are thousands of Ukrainian born immigrants living in Tacoma and its suburbs.

The city of Brovary is characterized by a great geographical location with access to natural resources, economic advantages, and access to main national and international highways, including railroads. Brovary, just like Tacoma, is located near a waterway – the Dniper River which gives economic advantages to businesses. Brovary has many parks and is located among mixed forests. It borders Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, similar to how Tacoma borders Seattle, a major metropolitan area. Brovary is home to a railway station, broadcasting center, and various industries and factories such as knitting, woodworking, machine tools, plastic materials, and a large Coca Cola company plant. It is a shoemaking capital and a sport center as well.

Pastor Peter Sayenko, of the Slavic Christian Center, is the head of the Sister City committee who worked to move Tacoma’s Sister City connection with Brovary forward.

Cienfuegos is a beautiful port city nestled between lush mountains and rich agricultural lands. Cienfuegos, with a population of approximately 130,000, is located in south central Cuba and is the third largest port in the country. It is also known as La Perla del Sur or the Pearl of the South because of both its natural and architectural beauty. Cienfuegos has something for everyone! The sea and the air are clean and warm in this industrial city and its surrounding province by the same name. Hotels and resorts with a variety of accommodations by the sun-dappled sea and in the mountain’s welcome visitors. History and architecture buffs will marvel at the well-preserved Town Square and quaint streets. Medical, mental health, and educational professionals will be interested in getting to know their colleagues at the various universities, schools, nurseries, clinics, and medical center. Baseball and other athletic fans will not only enjoy the Cubans’ enthusiasm for sports, but there is a stadium and athletic fields available for everyone to enjoy. Art in all its forms and among all ages abounds in Cienfuegos. The cultural center is a focal point for both the professional and the novice. And, of course, what would a visit to Cienfuegos be without its rhythmic music, its suave dances, and its delicious tropical flavors. There is all this and more.in Cienfuegos.

Cienfuegos Sister City Committee Chair, Marisela Fleites-Lear

Tacoma’s Sister City since 1994. Davao City, city, southeastern Mindanao Island, Philippines. It lies at the mouth of the Davao River, near the head of Davao Gulf. The city is the leading regional centre for southeastern Mindanao and encompasses about 50 small ports in its commercial sphere. Pakiputan Strait, formed by offshore Samal Island, shelters both Santa Ana, an urban port servicing small vessels, and the deepwater port facilities at Sasa, 5 miles (8 km) north. The ports handle interisland passenger traffic and shipment of copra, corn (maize), and rice. As an international port, Davao City ships large quantities of abaca, a natural fiber that is the main product grown in the adjacent agricultural hinterland.

Davao City The rebuilt city is an attractive blend of Spanish, American, and Moorish influences. Largely rural outside its urban core, Davao City is one of the world’s largest cities in land area, sprawling among coconut groves and ricelands. The regional headquarters for commercial and administrative activities, Davao City is served by a major airport and highways. The city’s industries include the production of abaca fibres, textiles, cement, and plywood. Davao City is the site of the University of Mindanao (1946), the Philippine Women’s College of Davao, and other colleges. Talomo Beach, the Bago Iñigo fish farm, and the pearl farm on Samal Island are nearby. Inc. city, 1936. Area 854 square miles (2,212 square km). Pop. (2010) 1,449,296; (2020) 1,776,949., Philippines.

Committee Chair

Tacoma’s Sister City since 2007

El Jadida is a port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in the province of El Jadida. The city’s appearance is a beautiful and unique architectural mixture of Moorish-Portuguese-French influences. El Jadida has a beautiful and long coast line that attracts over 10 million visitors from around the world each year. It has a population of 214,000 and is the port for Marrakech and other Moroccan cities. Morocco is the most westernized Arabic nation in the world. Morocco sits 7 kilometers south of Spain and is bordered by both the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas.

El Jadida is just 90 kilometers south of Casablanca and has been influenced throughout history by many European countries, especially France. El Jadida, previously known as Mazagan (Portuguese: Mazagao), was seized in 1502 by the Portuguese. In 1769, it came under Moroccan rule, and the city was renamed El Jadida, meaning “new.” It is the only city in Morocco registered as an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, on the basis of its status as an “outstanding example of the interchange of influences between European and Moroccan cultures” and as an “early example of the realization of the Renaissance ideals integrated with Portuguese construction technology.”

According to UNESCO, the cistern housed within the stone walls of the ancient Portuguese fort and the Manueline church of the Assumption are the most important buildings in the city. However, visitors from around the world find El Jadida to be a progressive city that has all the amenities.

El Jadida Sister City Chairperson, Frances Lorenz

Tacoma’s Sister City since 1994.

Fuzhou, a port city and the capital of the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, lies near the mouth of the Minjiang (i.e., Min River), where it flows into the Straits of Taiwan. The city (or more properly referred to as municipality) includes five districts in the urban area and six counties and two county-level cities in the suburban area, with a total population of more than six million. The city is known for its timber industry, local tea, and lacquerware. As part of Fujian, it is also the ancestral home of many Chinese Americans who settled in the Pacific Northwest in the 19th century.

Fuzhou has long held a key position in China’s maritime trade. Soon after its founding in the sixth century, it became renowned for the export of tea, and Marco Polo wrote of thriving commerce in pearls and precious stones in the 13th century, especially with India. Western powers gained a foothold in Fuzhou in the 1840s, when it was declared one of five Chinese ports open at the end of the first Opium War, and Japan was granted a concession there in 1898.

Today, international contacts are welcomed wholeheartedly, and the exotic teas and pearls have become secondary to trade in wood and agricultural products floated down the Minjiang from the mountainous and mystically beautiful highlands. With technical assistance from the Port of Tacoma, Fuzhou is currently building five deepwater port facilities to secure its position as a key southeastern commercial center. In addition, its electrochemical complex for the production of sulfuric acid and its lacquerware factories make it an industrial hub for Fujian Province.

The name Fuzhou, which actually means “wealthy town,” has never been more fitting than today for this bustling river city.

Fuzhou Sister City Contact, Debbie Bingham

Tacoma’s Sister City since 1997.

The city of George is located along South Africa’s Garden Route on the coast in the Western Cape Province. The population of George is between 150,000 and 160,000. George is nestled below magnificent George Peak. The town is situated in a picturesque environment on a coastal plateau between the Outeniqua Mountains and the Indian Ocean. The area consists of a remarkable blending of mountains, rivers, indigenous and cultivated forests. It has colorful shrubs and wildflowers, glorious beaches, and rich farmlands. Of all the natural wonders in which the region abounds, nothing is quite as breathtaking as the grandeur of the forests. The forests derive their diversity and lushness from year-round rainfall, averaging 34 inches per year, with no month having more than 3.5 inches. Mild temperatures prevail throughout the year, with winter temperatures averaging 68º and 73º in the summer.

George is known as one of the fast-developing towns in South Africa and, based on the growth over the past ten years, is expected to develop into a secondary city within the next decade. It has a sophisticated infrastructure with banks, conference facilities, businesses, major shopping chains, transportation, and recreation facilities. It is also a major tourist center with a variety of places to suit every taste and pocketbook.

Because of its location, George is a popular distribution center for both governmental and non-governmental goods and services. Forestry, farming (vegetables, hops, dairy), light industries, and tourism form the basis of the local economy.

Contact

Tacoma’s Sister City since 1978.

Gunsan, port city at the mouth of the Kum River on the west coast of North Cholla province, Republic of Korea, about 125 miles S.S.W. of Seoul and 30 miles W.N.W. of Chonju. Its population is about 200,000. There is an American Air Force base located in the vicinity. Originally a poor fishing village, Gunsan underwent rapid development when the modern port was opened in 1899, and a rail link was established by a branch line from Pusan.

As a developed intercontinental trade port, it has advanced the involvement of the Yellow Sea in maritime trade.

Its major industries include plywood production, paper and pulp, breweries, and rubber manufacturing. Gunsan is particularly noted as a rice-shipping port, and much of its commercial activity centers around the processing, storing, and transport of the rice grown in the rich Kum River basin. The countryside around Gunsan also produces important crops of barley, beans, cotton, and rushes, while the adjacent waters yield good catches of fish and shrimp.

Gunsan Sister City Committee Chair, Ms. Ok Sun Wilson

Tacoma’s Sister City Since 2015

Hvar is Tacoma’s 13th Sister City. Located off the Dalmation Coast in southern Croatia, in the Adriatic Sea, Hvar is the number one holder of Croatia’s superlatives: the most luxurious island, the sunniest place in the country (with 2,724 sunny hours each year), and, along with Dubrovnik, the most popular tourist destination.

Hvar Town, the island’s capital, is all about swanky hotels, elegant restaurants, trendy bars, and clubs. Hvar is famous for its lilac lavender fields, as well as other aromatic plants such as rosemary and heather. The interior of the island hides abandoned ancient hamlets, towering peaks, and verdant, largely uncharted landscapes.Beginning in the 1870’s, hundreds of immigrants arrived in Tacoma from the Dalmatian Coast (southern coastal area of Croatia). Because of the geopolitics of the time, they were identified as Austrians. After World War II, they became known as Yugoslavs, and today, people from this area are members of the nation of Croatia, formed in the 1990s following the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Since 1901, many of these Dalmatians or Slavs kept alive their traditions by becoming members of the Slavonian American Benevolent Society, located on North 30th Street in Old Town Tacoma. Most of the Tacoma Dalmatians come from the islands of Hvar, Brac, Vis, or Korcula.

Tacoma’s Sister City since 1959.

In 1963, the five cities of Moji, Kokura, Wakamatsu, Yahata, and Tobata were amalgamated to form Kitakyushu, with a population of over 1 million.

The Kitakyushu area serves as a nucleus of industry, economy, and culture for Western Japan. The city is framed by its natural beauty, with clear blue seas to the green, lush mountains in the background.

This city has many festivals, which date back into ancient history. Especially noteworthy are the three big Gion festivals that decorate the summer months and draw visitors from all over Japan.
From its beginnings as the birthplace of Japan’s iron and steel industry, Kitakyushu has grown into one of the largest iron and steel-producing cities in Japan. In recent years, the city’s value-added types of industry, such as the general machinery and electrical machinery industries, have been growing, and the steel and raw materials industries have been diversifying into high processing and high value-added industries.

In August of 2003, the “Kitakyushu Performing Arts Center” opened. Citizens and visitors are able to enjoy entertainment ranging from local low-budget theater groups to world-class orchestras. The center offers three different-sized halls with the versatility to accommodate a Kabuki play to a Broadway performance.

Kitakyushu Sister City Committee Chair, Mr. Walter Allen

Tacoma’s Sister City since 2000.

The island of Taiwan is located 100 miles off the coast of Mainland China between Japan and Hong Kong. Portuguese mariners who reached Taiwan in the 16th century named it Formosa, which means beautiful.

Taichung is the third largest city in Taiwan and is home to approximately 914,000 residents, 13 colleges, numerous temples, and Taiwan’s 2nd largest port, Taichung Port. The eastern half of the area features mountains, river valleys, and forests, including the snow-capped Mt. Jade, the highest mountain in Taiwan. The western half has plains, basins, terraces, and miles of beautiful seashore. Taichung is an economic, cultural, industrial, and educational center of Taiwan and an important transportation hub.

Taichung takes pride in its clean environment, cultural and educational activities, open space and recreational facilities, business vitality, and industrial and high-tech development. The City also places emphasis on social welfare programs, such as city-build day care centers, regular health check-ups for elders, and insurance for low-income families.

Taiwan’s central government has designated Taichung as one of the regional manufacturing operation centers in the Asia-Pacific owing to its strong industrial base. Some 70% of Taiwan’s newly developed industrial zones are in this area.

Taichung is home to approximately 914,000 residents, 13 colleges, numerous famous temples, and Taiwan’s 2nd largest port, Taichung Harbor.

Taichung Sister City Committee Chair, Bill Baarsma

Tacoma’s Sister City since 1992.

Located on the far eastern border of Russia, at the seaside is the city of Vladivostok, the capital of Primorye, whose population of 750,000 is primarily associated with the sea. Vladivostok begins from the coast of the Bay of Zolotoy Rog with many dozens of terminals where hundreds of commercial vessels, fishing boats, and fish-factory boats moor. Here the ocean breath is felt in everything… in the sultry taste of the wind, in the thick fogs covering the city, in the strident cries of seagulls, and in the ship bells’ ringing.

This area serves as a nucleus of industry, economy, and culture for the Russian Far East. A closed city until mid-1992, Vladivostok is home to one of the largest navy fleets of Russia. Vladivostok has a major Russian university, the Far East Institute, including schools of oceanography, fisheries, and engineering. It is the favorite city for many Russians as a resort and relaxation area. It hosts many cultural and performing arts events in Russia.

Vladivostok is said to be the city of optimists, of people who look confidently into the future with hope.

Vladivostok Sister City Committee Chair, Mariam Anderson

Tacoma’s Sister City from 1979-2018.

Kiryat-Motzkin is located on the west coast of Israel five miles north of the major port city of Haifa on the flat plains leading to ACCO (Acre). It was founded in 1934, and in 1940, a town council was established.

The original inhabitants were almost all of Eastern European stock, but today this modern city of some 40,000 citizens represent all the diverse nationalities that have emigrated to Israel since World War II. Most recently the various Russian national groups and Ethiopians have been welcomed to Kiryat-Motzkin and are fast being assimilated.

The city is recognized throughout Israel for its day care program as well as the outstanding activities it conducts both for the youth and elderly of the community. It boasts an impressive list of cultural activities and takes great pride in sponsoring a broad-based, diverse athletic program that provides intramural competition for all citizens as well as participates at the national level.

Kiryat-Motzkin has fast become the commercial center for the surrounding communities. Businesses, workshops and offices render services to the entire population of the Bay Area totaling nearly 200,000 residents.

Contact

Debbie Bingham
Community and Economic Development Program Manager

(253) 591-5117