• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 13, 2010 - UPDATED: 3:51 p.m.
  

Sister-city agreement finalized

Mayor-President Kip Holden and a Turkish delegation hoisted the flags of the Republic of Turkey and the city of Malatya behind City Hall on Tuesday after finalizing a sister-city agreement between Baton Rouge and Malatya.

Holden said the pact, the first part of which was signed in June when he visited Malatya, is not a “fluff-type’’ agreement.

“It’s a lot about economic development,’’ Holden said after he and Malatya Deputy Mayor Ertan Mumcu signed sister-city documents in the Metro Council chambers.

“We will move forward swiftly. We want to be known as a global city,’’ Holden added.

Gov. Mehmet Ulvi Saran of Malatya, Turkey, and 13 Turkish business leaders also were on hand for the official signing and flag raising. Saran called it a “very happy occasion.’’ Malatya, a city of about 400,000 people in eastern Turkey, grows 65 percent of the world’s dried apricots.

Dried apricots and baklava were part of the post-signing meal.

Holden has been working to create distribution opportunities for the Malatya apricots in the United States that include Associated Grocers Inc.

Malatya also has a thriving textile industry.

“We would like to promote more relations between Malatya and Baton Rouge,’’ Mumcu said through an interpreter.

“We are bridging gaps. We are forming a bond that’s everlasting,’’ Holden said.

Holden said he received an invitation Tuesday from the Turkish businessmen in attendance to come to Houston and address 250 business people living in that city.

The sister-city agreement calls for Baton Rouge and Malatya to exchange information and experiences in the fields of local government, culture, tourism, perseveration of cultural heritage, urban planning, transportation, education, sports and environmental protection. The two cities also will swap experts and staff to promote each other’s development and to support each other in international forums and scientific conferences, seminars and research.

“We firmly believe that if you’re going to grow economically, you have to go outside the borders of the United States,’’ Holden said.

Under the agreement, Baton Rouge and Malatya will use fairs, festivals and exhibitions to promote each other in the fields of trade, investment, literature, music and films to city residents.

Baton Rouge has other sister cities, including Aix-en-Provence, France; Cordoba, Mexico; and Taichung, Taiwan.