The sister city agreement has been in force since 1997, but has not been active over the past few years although many projects that were originally initiated at that time are vital and still ongoing projects today.
This visit was aimed at revitalising the relationship, building on the ongoing projects and identifying additional potential joint projects.
The Tacoma delegation was headed by Melannie Cunningham, one of the original role players in the agreement signed in the 90s. Also present at the meeting was local resident Debbie Bruce, who was instrumental in securing this visit. Debbie is also one of the founding role players of the initiative.
The sister city agreement was originally entered into because Tacoma shares many similarities with George, including a strong historic forestry industry, as well as being considered an area of great scenic beauty along a coastline - much like the Garden Route.
The meeting between the delegation and the George Business Chamber was very productive. The synergy between the chamber and the municipality in terms of focus areas, such as entrepreneurship, was clearly demonstrated and commended.
Various current municipal priority focus areas such as support for the film industry as well as honeybush tea production drew interest from the delegation and may result in collaboration in the near future.
Fruitful twin city talks. From left: Dr Willie Cilliers (chamber president), Melannie Cunningham (Tacoma delegation leader), Ingrid Cronje (George Business Chamber manager), Brenda Vorster (chamber vice-president), Debbie Bruce (founder member of the sister city initiative), Carli Bunding-Venter (Local Economic Development manager, George Municipality) and John Korsmo (Tacoma delegation member).
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