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San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg jointly signed a sister city agreement on Tuesday with his counterpart from Querétaro, Mexico, during a ceremony at the Alamo.
More than 300 years ago, Spanish friars traveled 700 miles north from Querétaro to establish the mission known today as the Alamo.
Nirenberg said, given the current state of national politics, it's important to ensure economic, educational, and cultural partnerships with Mexico.
"We know the political winds and rhetoric have shifted so dramatically over the last couple of months and the truth of the matter is the Texas economy, the San Antonio economy, the American economy work because we have bilateral exchange with Mexico," he said.
Querétaro Mayor Felipe Fernando Macías Olvera agreed with Nirenberg: "We believe that now is the time to build bridges instead of barriers, foster cooperation instead of distrust. We believe in cooperation over isolation."
Macías Olvera said his city of 1.5 million residents has several similarities with San Antonio, including industries like cyber security.
San Antonio already has sister city relationships with 12 cities worldwide.
The Sister Cities International program was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The program plays a key role in people-to-people exchanges and global relationship-building.
San Antonio's other sister cities include:
- Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (Established 1953, first Mexican city to have a US Sister City)
- Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (Established 1974)
- Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain (Established 1975)
- Gwangju, South Korea (Established 1981)
- Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Established 1982)
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (Established 1983)
- Kumamoto, Japan (Established 1987)
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (Established 2008)
- Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China (Established 2012)
- Windhoek, Namibia (Established 2016)
- Darmstadt, Germany (Established 2017)
- Baguio, Philippines (Established 2022)
Correction: A previous version of this story included an incorrect photo of the Querétaro mayor.
