The concept of a sister city is a well-established tool for international cooperation.
Both developing and developed countries adapt the sister city concept in order to strengthen the bilateral relationship of the two countries among the people and institutions at both governmental and non-governmental levels.
It enables them to have a better understanding of the people of the cities and countries.
However, Bangladesh lags far behind in the ideation and implementation of sister cities with foreign cities.
The sister city is a great prospect for developing countries like Bangladesh to engage with developed countries and share knowledge, culture and cooperation.
The modern town twinning concept began post Second World War.
The main objective of sister-city was to increase the inter-city communication between the people of two cities of the two different states and improve the relations between the citizens of the friendly states through education and cultural exchange.
However, the objective is not limited to that anymore. Instead, it becomes multipurpose, because the sister city can add various objectives within the respective agreement subject to the mutual agreement and documentation of both parties.
The mayor of the city usually has the ultimate authority from the initial phase to execution and taking forward with the help of the central government.
Sister city also works to foster economic cooperation and any other prospect between the two cities of the state.
A city can have more than one city as the sister city. Mumbai in India has 16 sister cities, while Jakarta has 18 sister cities.
Indonesia has reached over 82 sister cities in various cities across the country. However, despite having the golden jubilee of independence, Bangladesh does not yet have a meaningful town twinning agreement.
What prevents Bangladesh from adapting the sister-city concept in the strategy and advancing with it?
What makes the mayor of the big cities of Bangladesh skeptical and static? Why has a 50-year-old country not enforced that kind of proven diplomacy?
Karachi, full of terrorism threats, has more than 16 sister cities that include Port Louis, Kolkata, Shanghai, Jeddah, Tashkent, Istanbul, Beirut, Dhaka, Chicago, Izmir, Houston, Manama, Pristina, Dubai, and Kuala Lumpur. Pakistan's capital Islamabad already has sister cities like Amman, Ankara, Beijing, Seoul, Madrid and Jakarta.
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On the other hand, Dhaka has just three sister cities that apparently do not function at the ground level.
However, in 2022, Dhaka South City Corporation signed a MoU with the third district of Bucharest.
Besides, Guner Ureya, the ambassador to the newly established Kosovo Embassy in Bangladesh, proposed Kosovo's capital, Pristina, to become a sister city of the Dhaka North City Corporation in January 2021.
The further official MoU has not been signed yet.
DNCC also held discussions with Ankara, but the formal procedure was not followed.
It is ironic that Dhaka has a prominent road on the name of the father of Turkey Kemal Atatürk but never had a sister city in 50 years of the diplomatic tie.
Sylhet also got its first-ever sister city in 2019 when Portsmouth, a well-known coastal town in the south of England, also made an MoU.
The idea of making Sylhet the town twin is due to the fact that about 10,000 people living in Portsmouth are of Bangladeshi descent.
The Bangladeshis represent the largest non-white community in the town.
The initiative is aimed at strengthening commercial and educational ties between both countries.
The University of Portsmouth is interested in attracting Bangladeshi students and beginning a university partnership.
They already have a representative in Sylhet.
China offered the sister-city proposal for six different cities in Bangladesh in 2020 during the Covid-19 outbreak.
According to the Chinese government, once the agreement is signed, they will exchange industrial culture and trade relations in the sister cities, play a full role in controlling future epidemics in the cities, including dengue and corona, and build cities similar to China's developed cities.
Immediately after the offer, Indian media and government-sponsored think tanks publicly opposed the proposal and classified it as a menace to the relationship between Bangladesh and India.
Ostensibly, the Bangladesh government did not progress further with the proposal.
Why China?
There is ample room for apprehension as to why China has made this seemingly tempting offer in a very proactive manner.
According to influential Chinese media outlets, including The China Daily, the sister city's construction projects are part of its flagship project, the Belt Road Initiative (BRI).
In addition, China plans to connect about 600 cities worldwide through BRI and is investing heavily in creating new trade routes similar to the Silk Road.
Meanwhile, China's proposal brought an opportunity for Bangladesh to take some advantage of.
In this situation, there is an excellent opportunity to negotiate separately with China and India on the Rohingya issue.
Large projects stuck with neighbouring India can be allowed to bargain for the opportunity.
These opportunities are easily exploited through prudent foreign policy.
However, the functionalities and outcomes of these sister-city accords depend on the particular agreements between the two cities.
It operates as a legal document and holds both cities accountable.
It can be withdrawn anytime, should there be any such clause.
Indeed, Bangladesh has to prepare the legal documentation comprehensively in order to avoid adverse circumstances.
Therefore, adequate research is required before proceeding to the finalization of the sister city.
Despite being a sovereign country, it is sad to see neighbours like India interfere in the internal affairs and international cooperation of Bangladesh.
On the other hand, Kunming, also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the largest city and the capital of China's Yunnan province, which was jointly declared as Kolkata's sister city during former prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Beijing in October 2015.
Many of the biggest companies in Yunnan have their headquarters in Kunming.
Despite Galwan's disputes in Ladakh in 2020, even the mayor of Kunming visited Kolkata in 2022 to strengthen their relationship.
There are lots of cities in India that have an agreement with China.
More than 5,000 Russians are at the Ruppur nuclear power plant on the banks of the Padma in IshwardiUpazila of Pabna.
It also has positive implications for the local economy. Nevertheless, despite the close alliance between Bangladesh and Russia, no town twinning discourse has yet occurred.
It would have unlocked opportunities for Bangladeshis in Russia for education, culture, business and many more and brought the citizens of both countries closure.
Chittagong, Bangladesh's largest metropolis seaport, has recently worked to make Houston the sister city, but no deal has been signed yet.
Point to be noted, Bangladesh has diplomatic ties with more than a hundred nations.
Yet Bangladesh lags with the proven strategy of the sister city. The reason from the administrative level is still unknown.
It questions the ability of the city head as well as the state itself.
The best way to create a positive impact is to adopt the various coping strategies that work for others.
Other nations like Indonesia can be a great example of how to implement it and make the best out of it.
Bangladesh has more than 165 million inhabitants.
Creating more opportunities for this large population in a small country is crucial. Sister cities can be one way to use resources effectively and efficiently.
Ultimately, this will allow establishing a great image of the nation itself.
The ministries of finance and planning should allocate budgets and keep space for them.
Nevertheless, the sister city functions as a team within the different dimensions of the local and central administrations, which demand coherence among the actors with the foresight vision.
The author is an independent researcher, columnist, and communications
and development professional
