THE DAVAO City International Relations Board is set to approve Sennan in Osaka Prefecture as Davao’s newest sister city.
In a video conference on Oct. 4, 2022, with Sennan City Hall officials representing their mayor Yuma Yamamoto, the areas for possible collaboration include the education, tourism, and economic sectors.
April Marie Dayap, the officer in charge of the Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC), told Sennan representatives that the new ties are instrumental in the economic collaboration of both cities.
Dayap added that Davao is looking forward to ‘people to people’ exchange through education, where a student exchange program is likely possible, as well as information exchange between organizations like cooperatives, tourism associations, and chambers of commerce.
“A strong economic collaboration is one of the future directions of the sister-city agreement between Sennan and Davao City. We are promoting Davao in our area as one step for possible business tie-ups. We also have other education-related activities that can be done online for junior high school students, possible partnerships with national universities situated in Sennan for student exchange programs, and joint economic activities with the Sennan Chamber of Commerce,” Itou Masaki of Sennan City Hall remarked during the conference.
The proposal of Sennan for a sisterhood agreement with Davao City was made as early as 2019 but was deferred due to the pandemic. The approving body, the Davao City International Relations Board, is awaiting additional information and documents from Sennan to finalize the approval process.
Davao City has also signed sister city agreements with eight foreign cities – Nanning and Jinjiang in China, Kitakyushu in Japan, Tacoma in Washington, USA, Kaua’i in Hawaii, Manado and Bitung in Indonesia, and Koror in Palau.
