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Rio de Janeiro and Toronto nearing agreement to become sister cities
Posted on May 27, 2015
Toronto should formalize until the start of the Pan-American Games in July the announcement of Rio de Janeiro as its sister city. The negotiations have been taking place for the past two years and have a strategic importance in establishing trade relations and exchanging knowledge.
“We had no representation in some rapidly growing areas, so we decided to try and do something in Brazil. We’re negotiating a new friendship relationship with Rio de Janeiro that’s probably going to be signed the day prior to the Pan Am Games by Mayor John Tory and the Mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes,” said Ronald Wandel, Toronto’s strategic alliances manager.
Behind that partnership is the Canadians interest in acquiring know-how from Rio, which hosted the 2007 Pan-American Games, the 2014 World Cup Final and will host the 2016 Olympic Games.
“We’re both looking at how cities can use events for economic development, investment attraction and trade promotion,” Wandel said.
Representatives from both cities are studying which kind of initiatives they can take in order to make this partnership more concrete. “There are two aspects we look for in any relationship – how we can help Toronto companies enter the other market, and how we can attract investment from the other market to Toronto.”, stated the Canadian representative.
Toronto will host its Global Forum between July 8 and 10, which coincides with the Pan’s opening dar. According to organizers, the event offers “opportunities for business meetings aimed at promoting partnerships among major Canadian and international corporations.”