Promoting People to People Exchanges

This website links New Zealand cities, towns, districts and ports that have entered into a sister-city, twinning or friendship relationship with an overseas counterpart.  The tally is around 140 communities in overseas cities reaching out in friendship to New Zealand.  That number is growing. 

Sister Cities New Zealand brings together kindred organisations, voluntary, local-body and governmental groups, cultural, sport, educational and trade groups involved in people-to-people contact between countries and cultures. 

Sister Cities New Zealand aims to increase global co-operation at a local level, promote cultural understanding, stimulate economic development and foster a citizens' network of organisations and individuals devoted to creating and strengthening partnerships between New Zealand and international communities.  These contacts have been calculated to be worth in excess of $50 million a year in tourism and cultural exchange dollars alone.

Our Vision

Sister Cities programmes foster communications across borders - a mutual exchange of ideas, people and materials in cultural, educational, youth, sports, municipal, professional and technical projects. 

The Sister Cities concept is unique: It is two-way; the give and take is shared by both sides; it provides for planned and continuous contact between the cities involved and their citizens; it brings together both municipalities'  volunteer resources at the local level; it offers a mechanism at the community level for anyone or organisation to become involved in international relations. 

The establishment of sister city and friendship city relations stimulates interaction between people of different countries and cultures on a people-to-people basis. The aim is to foster international understanding and friendship, to encourage exchange of education, culture and sport, and to promote, where possible, tourism and trade.  These concepts are recognised as a catalyst for economic growth.

Go to our Searching for a new Sister City page to find out about some of the places looking to establish people to people links with New Zealand.