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CIVIC SIBLINGS ABROAD

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Clipboard researched by Kathie Bozanich and Dallas Jamison / Los Angeles Times; Graphics by Doris Shields / Los Angeles Times

More thought and planning goes into choosing an international sister city than one might imagine. Recommendations are made to the city council by various civic groups involved in international relations. Upon the council’s approval, letters and forms are forwarded to the intended sibling for acceptance. After agreement is reached, there is an exchange of plaques commemorating the event and in some cases officials from the two cities visit each other to see how each conducts city business.

Of the 29 foreign cities that have been adopted by Orange County (some of our towns have multiple sisters), Mexico and Japan lead the way with seven each. There are two each in New Zealand, Argentina, South Korea, Australia and France, and one in Italy, Canada, Colombia, Ireland and Spain.

Fountain Valley, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda do not have international sisters. But the rest of Orange County’s cities have chosen the foreign counterparts listed at right:

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City Sister Cities Anaheim Mito, Japan Brea Hanno, Japan and Lagos de Moreno, Mexico Buena Park Chongju, South Korea Costa Mesa Werribee (Victoria), Australia Cypress Noda, Japan Dana Point Ajaccio (Corsica), France Fullerton Fukui, Japan and Morelia, Mexico Garden Grove Anyang, South Korea * Huntington Beach Anjo, Japan and Waitemata, New Zealand Irvine Tsukuba, Japan * La Habra San Miguel de Allende, Mexico La Palma Nenagh, Ireland ** Los Alamitos Dawson Creek (British Columbia), Canada Newport Beach Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Okazaki, Japan and Antibes, France Orange Queretaro, Mexico and Orange (New South Wales), Australia Placentia Piacenza, Italy and Tlaquepaque, Mexico ** San Clemente San Clemente Del Tuyu, Argentina and San Andres, Colombia San Juan Capistrano Goya, Argentina and Petra (Majorca), Spain Stanton Chapala, Mexico Tustin Matamata, New Zealand

* Proposed

** Informal, there is no official sister city

Source: Individual cities

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