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December 10, 2001
CONTACT: Dwight Pelz 206 296-1005

(Seattle, Wash.) - Metropolitan King County Councilmembers today passed a motion to explore the establishment of a sister county relationship with the province of Granma, Cuba. During last week's Committee-of-the-Whole meeting, councilmembers heard a presentation from the Seattle-Cuba Sister City Association in favor of a King County-Granma partnership.

"We've opened the door to broadening King County's understanding of Cuban culture and society. We will now explore the benefits of a long-term sister county relationship," said Councilmember Dwight Pelz. "In the current climate of international tensions I believe it is more critical than ever to explore these government-to-government ties."

Seattle residents have traveled to Cuba and worked with government officials from Granma Province to initiate this sisterhood effort, inviting King County officials to explore the desirability of such a relationship. Granma is similar in geographic size to King County; the province lies situated on a saltwater bay with mountainous regions and has a population of 800,000.

The commonwealth of Pennsylvania and ten U.S. cities, including the city of Tacoma, have already established sister jurisdiction relationships with similar governments in Cuba.

King County currently enjoys international sister county relations with Kaohsiung County in the Republic of China and Hwasong County in the Republic of Korea.