With the three day visit of Mayor of San Francisco and 50 delegates to city confirmed at the end of this month, BBMP is looking forward for the exchange of ideas, besides infrastructure and technical projects.

The Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsoms and 50 delegates will be in city from November 29, and this is their first visit after having signed the memorandum to partner in economic growth, cultural exchange and knowledge for sister cooperation in October 2009.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and San Francisco Mayor had signed the memorandum through video conferencing, but there was no interactive sessions organised to understand and share the experiences so far.

“To enter into specific understanding by way of MoUs with the respective departments, bodies and entrepreneur, the Mayor and delegates will be in city from November 29 to December 3.

They will spend time with the civic officials and attend interactive sessions and go on field visits.

After the visits, there will be more such interactive sessions organised between the two cities and the BBMP officials will also visit San Francisco to learn new technologies to ensure sustainable development,” said a senior BBMP official.

With the signing of MoU, San Francisco became the third city to have sister city relationship with Bangalore after Minsk City, Belarus and City of Reno, Nevada, USA.

Apart from interactive sessions, the delegation will also visit art centers, museums, Infosys, Biocon Limited, Indian Institute of Science and other educational institutions.

“We can adopt the successful model of the sister city in dealing with traffic, infrastructure problems, housing, education and other problems,” said the official.

Sister cities is an agreement between counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties. It is two-way — give and take — it provides for planned and continuous contact between cities. It is to promote international understanding and friendship, to encourage exchange of education, culture and sport, and promote, where possible tourism and trade.

San Francisco and Bangalore will be able to realise potential for joint innovation and social improvement while establishing friendship and understanding.