Maui County "Best Overall" Sister Cities Program

Mayor Alan Arakawa today announced that the County of Maui has received the “Best Overall Program” Award from Sister Cities International in the category of a population of 100,000 to 300,000 people.

The international award recognizes an outstanding sister city for its effective program administration, variety of exchanges offered, and overall efforts to improve international cooperation and understanding. The award will be presented at the 50th annual Sister Cities International conference in Washington, D.C. later this year.

"Many volunteers from a multitude of Maui’s community organizations, as well as County of Maui staffers worked tirelessly to organize the events surrounding Maui County's first Sister Cities Festival in June 2005," said Mayor Alan Arakawa. "I'd like to especially thank and congratulate Anna Ribucan and Lynn Araki-Regan of the Office of Economic Development, and Yuki Lei Sugimura of Connec, LLC, for coordinating everything to ensure the program's success. The Festival helped foster international culture and educational exchanges as well as trade ties. This honor belongs to everyone in Maui County and we should all be proud of this distinguished award and our county's initiatives to build bridges by sharing aloha around the globe.”

*(above text excerpt is taken by permission from the Maui County website) 

In 2005 Maui County hosted the Sister Cities Festival. Here are images of the festival for you to join in on the fun.