The Sister Cities International (SCI) had its first African Regional Summit from February 20-24, 2023, in Cape Town, South Africa. The first of its kind, the purpose of that gathering was to strengthen and increase the number of US-Africa sister cities within the SCI network. The strategic focus was designed to have the Summit in the Republic of South Africa, where all provinces had great growth potential between US and South African cities. Cape Town was sister cities with Miami-Dade County, Florida, which had a robust relationship that focused on economic development.

The Summit provided a week-long series of engagements and activities that supported best practice learning, training on becoming sister cities, networking, developing business opportunities, and creating tourism opportunities for the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape, and the rest of South Africa.

With a targeted participation of 350-500 participants from the United States, South Africa, and the rest of the African continent, that engagement served as the first opportunity in SCI’s 67-year history to focus strategically in an international forum on the continent of Africa.