Town twinning

Town twinning or sister cities is a concept where towns or cities from geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links. In Europe, such pairs of towns are known as twin towns, friendship towns or, in German, partner towns (Partnerstädte); in North America and Australasia, the term sister cities is used for the same concept; and brother cities (города-побратимы) is the term in the former Soviet bloc.