In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower called for increased people-to-people cooperation based on citizen diplomacy initiatives. This led to the creation of sister cities partnerships between cities in the United States and cities located around the world. On February 5, 1962, Charlotte formally started its first sister cities partnership with Arequipa, Peru. Our city’s network of sister cities partnership has expanded to include Krefeld, Germany (1985), Baoding, China (1987), Voronezh, Russia (1991), Limoges, France (1992), Wrocław, Poland (1993), and Kumasi, Ghana (1995).