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Chicago, IL — On Tuesday, the City of Bogotá, Colombia, became Chicago's 28th Sister City. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Mayor Samuel Moreno Rojas, Bogotá, Distrito Capital, signed the agreement during the inaugural Chicago Global Cities Forum before 28 global municipal leaders at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum Building.  The signing marks Chicago's first Sister City agreement with a South American city.

"Bogota becomes our 28th Sister City, and the first of what I hope will be many others in South America," said Mayor Richard M. Daley. It can serve as a gateway for cooperation between Chicago and Colombia that will help us further develop our ties with such cities as Cartagena and Medellin, whose Mayors are here attending the conference. This relationship will also be very important to Chicago's Colombian community. There are more than 40,000 Colombian-Americans in the Chicago area, who are a very important part of our city's cultural fabric.

Bogotá, known as the "Athens of South America" for its scholarly tradition and sheer number of schools, colleges, universities and libraries, shares Chicago's dedication to public education initiatives. Among other similarities, including a diverse ethnic population base, Bogotá and Chicago are both strong business and economic centers—Chicago home to the world's futures and options exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Bogotá home to many commercial bank headquarters, as well as Colombia's main stock exchange.

Bogotá will serve as a gateway for exchange between Chicago and Colombia to foster more opportunities for greater understanding and mutual improvement.

The formation of a committee of citizen volunteers in Chicago to generate projects between Chicago and Bogotá will provide a means for residents in both cities to implement exchanges of education, culture, medicine, social services, environment and technology, and to promote mutual prosperity.

As mayors and leaders of municipal government, we share the same challenges, regardless of differences in culture, religion and government," said Mayor Richard M. Daley. The many of you from Chicago's Sister Cities know what an important role that program plays in helping us make sure our cities continue to move forward, particularly in these hard economic times. Chicago Sister Cities is our best ambassador to the world, using people-to-people and cultural exchanges to improve our city at every level.

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