Stockton Sister Cities Association

What is a Sister City Relationship

Sister Cities International Founder, President Dwight D. Eisenhower Sister Cities International was created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House conference on citizen diplomacy. Eisenhower envisioned an organization that could be the hub of peace and prosperity by creating bonds between people from different cities around the world. By forming these relationships, President Eisenhower reasoned that people of different cultures could celebrate and appreciate their differences and build partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts. ( From Sister Cities International : www.sister-cities.org )

Sister Cities International is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network creating and strengthening partnerships between U.S. and international communities in an effort to increase global cooperation at the municipal level, to promote cultural understanding and to stimulate economic development. Sister Cities International leads the movement for local community development and volunteer action by motivating and empowering private citizens, municipal officials and business leaders to conduct long-term programs of mutual benefit.

University of the Pacific, Stockton - photo by Mae Lowery

Stockton's Sister Cities

Stockton currently has seven Sister Cities

The Stockton Sister Cities Association is one of the oldest Sister City Associations in the United States, having been inaugurated in 1959, less than 3 years after the White House Conference. We now have established relationships with seven Sister Cities.


Shizuoka-Shimizu, Japan

adopted March 9, 1959

Iloilo City, Philippines

adopted August 2, 1965

Empalme, Mexico

adopted September 4, 1973

Foshan, China

adopted April 11, 1988

Parma, Italy

adopted January 13, 1998

Battambang, Cambodia

adopted October 19, 2004

Asaba, Nigeria

adopted June 6, 2006