Stepanakert Sister Cities

Montebello city officials announced the inauguration of Stepanakert, as their next sister city.

The Armenian city of Stepanakert is the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is home to about 40,000 people.

The request for Stepanakert came from Montebello residents. “There is a large Armenian presence here,” Stated Serge Samoniantz, committee member for Montebello’s Sister City Program. “They came to us with the idea about four years ago. Since then we chose the city and came up with the plan.”

The plan, according to city officials, is to embrace cultural exchange.

On October 12 the City Council will formally vote on making Stepanakert a sister city.

The program with Stepanakert is going to be made up of cultural, educational, health care and trade exchange so people can be shown how things are done in a different part of the world. The U.S. Sister City Program was start in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a partnership between different groups of people. It was created to promote cultural understanding, increase global cooperation and enhance economic development.