From the 20th floor of Baltimore's World Trade Center overlooking the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, representatives from the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) and Port of Nagoya (Japan) celebrated their original sister-port agreement by re-signing the agreement again. The first agreement with Nagoya was signed in 1990.
'This is a reaffirmation of a pledge between the ports of Baltimore and Nagoya,' said MPA Executive Director Brooks Royster, who re-signed the agreement on behalf of the Port of Baltimore. 'Sixteen years ago we signed a pledge of mutual cooperation to exchange best practice concepts, develop stronger international bonds and grow a relationship between our two ports. Establishing a rapport with other ports, states and countries can be as important as signing an official document.'
Among the representatives from the Port of Nagoya for the re-signing ceremony were Vice-Chairman Shozo Gunji and Manager of Long-Term Planning Minoru Hamajima.
Currently, the Port of Baltimore has sister-port agreements with 11 cities: Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Gdynia, Poland; Huanpu, China; St. Petersburg, Russia; Genoa, Italy; Gambia, Africa; Ghana, Africa; Sokhna, Egypt; Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Marseille, France.
