'Friendship city' first step for S.L., Peruvian bond

Jorge Arce-Larreta is building a bridge between his Peruvian hometown and his current home in Salt Lake City. And he wants to bring a taste of Salt Lake, his home for the past 40 years, to Trujillo.

Arce-Larreta worked to make Trujillo Salt Lake City's newest friendship city, and he hopes to create economic, educational and cultural ties that could eventually help make it a sister city to Utah's capital.

"We want this to be a vibrant relationship that will include local government, businesses and citizen volunteers," he said of the three-year trial period before a sister city relationship can be created.

Trujillo, a northern coastal city known as "the city of eternal spring," is Peru's third-largest city. In 2000, the population was estimated at 652,000, he said. It was founded as a Spanish city in 1534, and pre-Colombian sites remain nearby.

Across Utah, sister cities, states and counties go hand-in-hand with economic development, said Layne Palmer, Utah's director of international diplomacy and trade.

Salt Lake City, Murray, Ogden, Orem, Park City, Provo, Roy, St. George, Sandy, Snowbird, Tooele, West Jordan and West Valley City each have sister cities and/or states.

Salt Lake County and Weber County each have a sister county; and Utah has seven sister states and trade cooperation agreements with four foreign entities.

Since they receive government approval, the relationships foster political opportunities and make it easier for business delegations to travel between countries, Palmer said.

"It's an integral link between doing business and ongoing cultural, academic and economic development," Palmer said, noting that a "high-level" delegation from another country will soon be visiting Utah to cultivate economic development opportunities. That visit, he said, wouldn't be possible without the sister city program.

In West Valley City, sister city relationships with two cities in Taiwan, Tainan and Nantou, have sparked economic and art exchanges, said Ross Olsen, executive director of the city's Cultural Arts Board and the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. Five artists visited West Valley City last December and left their art on display and for sale at the cultural center. Some Utah artists will soon take their work to Taiwan, he said.

"The word 'sister' means a kind of family," Olsen said. "We try to strengthen those ties."

West Valley is also one of only three U.S. cities to receive the gift of a replica Olmec head, something Olsen said wouldn't be possible without a sister state relationship with the state of Veracruz.