The Sister City relationship between Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and the City of Jacksonville, Florida, USA continues to gain strength following the devastating economic and social effects of COVID-19.
This was confirmed by the current working visit by the leadership of Jacksonville to Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality which focused on boosting the local creative economy, foreign investment and events management sectors.
During a jovial event on Friday, 22 April 2022, during which the two Cities exchanged books at the City’s historic Main Library, Sports Recreation, Arts and Culture, Mayoral Committee Member Cllr Bassie Kamana said that, through the partnership, the NMBM would continue
to send NMBM and Eastern Cape artists and their work to Florida to develop them and market their work.
“Through this relationship, we have had the enriching sharing of knowledge, experiences and resources in the areas of capturing and preparation of oral history for archival purposes and digitisation. We have implemented the digitisation of special collections for both the Main Library and the Red Location Digital library and archives, as well as community projects, such as Gelvandale craft and our children’s library programmes.”
“We wish that the relationship will continue to erase the frontiers of ignorance and vanity in favour of building knowledgeable, responsible and culturally literate populations between the two Cities as we promote people-to-people diplomacy,” MMC Kamana said.
The NMBM exchanged 37 books with the City of Jacksonville, comprising local and other South African authors.
The Vice-President of the Nelson Mandela Bay Committee: Jacksonville Sister Cities Association, Felice Franklin, said that following the visit to NMB, plans were in place to expand the exchange of art works between the two Cities to give artists a much needed financial boost and international exposure.
“Sister Cities is a relationship between two Mayors, through which we are promoting peace, one community at a time, one person at a time. We had the opportunity to meet with the Mayor and her executive staff to share some of the things about Nelson Mandela Bay so that we will be better informed about how government operates here.
“The things of the future are endless; we had an opportunity to meet with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation and with artisans in East London. We are looking at having some of the artisans works sold in various locations within Jacksonville, so that is a great opportunity for the Municipality and the ECDC, but most importantly for those men and women who are making their crafts to have an opportunity to have an increased income to improve their lives. It is important to improve the lives of people here and also to enhance and improve the lives of people in Jacksonville,” said Franklin.
During their visit, the delegation also met with the NMB Business Chamber and will be leaving on Monday, 25 April 2022.
Ends.
Issued on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality by Communications and Media Management Officer, Mamela Ndamase. For more information contact 0760254692 or mndamase@mandelametro.gov.za.
