Partner Cities

At present, Kyoto city has sister city affiliation with nine other cities in the world.

In order to expand the span of friendship to many other cities of the world, and for the purpose of bolstering exchange programs in various fields at the citizens’ level, a new type of city relations called “Partner City” was initiated.

Under this bondage, a theme related to any category such as “Culture and Arts”, “Academic Research and Education” and “Economy” is decided upon and carried out by private groups of both cities as a bilateral activity.

The difference between the “Sister City” and “Partner City” is that in the case of the former, the programs are multifaceted, however, in the latter it is based on some theme agreed upon by the two sides.

Kyoto city established “Partner City” relation and signed the agreements with Jinju (Republic of Korea) in 1999, with Konya (Republic of Turkey) in 2009, with Qingdao (People's Republic of China) in 2012, with Hue (Socialist Republic of Vietnam) in 2013 and with Istanbul (Republic of Turkey) in 2013,with Vientiane Capital City (Lao People's Democratic Republic) in 2015.