Formal twinning ceremony will be held at Sam Sharpe Square this week
The cities of Montego Bay in St James and Sitia, Crete in Greece are being twinned and will now become sister cities.
This twinning is aimed at strengthen the relationship between both cities. A delegation from Sitia, led by Mayor Georgios Zervakis, arrived in the island last Friday (February 10) to formalise the agreement.
A formal twinning ceremony will be held at Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay on February 16.
On September 19 last year, the city of Montego Bay and the Municipality of Sitia commenced negotiations to establish a sister city relationship.
Mayor of Montego Bay Leeroy Williams, who made the announcement of the cities being twinned, noted that the relationship will be mutually beneficial to both cities in the areas of education, agricultural technology, and tourism.
Benefits to be accrued
“Benefits to be had as a result of the twinning of both cities are student exchange programmes between the Hellenic University in Sitia and the universities in Montego Bay,” Williams said, explaining that “Crete is the base for many shipping companies, with Greece having the largest shipping fleet in the world”.
He added: “So, in conjunction with the Caribbean Maritime University, under the direction of Admiral Peter Brady, there will be opportunities to promote Jamaican seafarers who desire employment on Greek vessels.”
“…The twinning will be beneficial because this part of Europe has had minimal exposure to tourism in Jamaica.”
Leeroy Williams, mayor of Montego Bay
According to Williams, both countries share tourism and agriculture as their main source of economic earnings.
He added that, with Jamaica’s desire “to attract more tourist from southern and eastern Europe, the twinning will be beneficial because this part of Europe has had minimal exposure to tourism in Jamaica”.
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