The President and Chief Executive Officer of Sister Cities International, Ms Mary D. Kane, will pay her first ever official working visit to Africa.

She will arrive in Ghana on Monday, March 5.

A statement issued in Accra by Africa Global Sister Cities Foundation (AGSCF) said during her visit, Ms Kane would inaugurate the Sister Cities Global Technology Centre of AGSCF, a partner organisation based in Accra, on Thursday, March 8.

The technology centre which is the first of its kind on the continent of Africa is part of a three-year 7.5 million dollars African Urban Poverty Alleviation Programme in 25 selected beneficiary African countries to implement projects in areas of water, sanitation and health and it is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the United States of America.

Four MMDAs, including Tamale, Ga East, Ga West and Akuapim South Municipality are each benefiting from 115,000 dollars grant under the project which is aimed at strengthening and building the capacity of AGSCF in promoting sister cities programmes globally in Africa.

The centre which is meant to close the technology gap between Africa and the advanced world will also help sister cities under the programme store and retrieve information within the system.

The project would help the member communities and cities to use the facility to communicate to their counterpart all over the world and the technology centre includes video conference, back-up/mass data storage and high speed internet facilities.

The facility will also be used to offer information communication training centre for assembly members, chief executives and local government officials and support Africa chieftaincy institutions.

As part of her visit to Ghana, Ms Kane will also hold meetings with local Sister city partners including Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly Chief Executives, local NGOs, diplomatic partners, dubbed “Mayoral Forum” on the theme; “Establishing sister cities for socio-economic development of Ghana.”

Ms Kane’s visit will highlight the growing importance of sister city partnerships in Africa to grow economic opportunity and support developing regions; “We intend to use our current projects in Africa to educate our members on the best practices needed in more complex humanitarian and development endeavours.

Adam Kaplan, Programme Manager responsible for Sister Cities International’s African programmes, said “this trip is an opportunity for us to support regional partners like Eastern Africa Sister Cities and Africa Global Sister Cities Foundation who are spreading the sister cities concept and helping local sister cities programmes with their expertise and connections”.

He said our hope for the future is not only to see more sister city relationships between the US and Africa, but to see more sister cities develop between African countries so there is more regional cooperation.”

Sister Cities International is a non-profit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between US and international communities which promote peace, mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation through international exchanges and programmes on youth and education, arts and culture, sustainable and economic development, and humanitarian assistance.

Created by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 at a White House summit, the organisation is a leader in people-to-people exchanges with a network that boasts over 600 US cities with nearly 2,000 sister-city relationships in 136 countries on six continents.