 Good morning, and welcome to Asian Review. I'm your host, Lily Ong. Today we have with us Mr. Bill Borum, Chairman Emeritus of Sisters Cities International. Welcome to the show, Mr. Bill. I'm very happy to be here. Happy to be back in Hawaii. I can tell you that. Why are you in Hawaii today? Well, we're having a conference here to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of Fort Elizabeth on the south shore of Kauai. So I'm joining with other people who will make that observance and make some comments upon it and interpret what the history, the culture, etc. And who are these other people that's going to be here today? Well, there will be scholars on history and culture, of course. Then there will be members of different departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then also various non-governmental organizations here in the United States. So each having a view of the events that transpired 200 years ago. Wow. And how long has this event been in a planning? I think quite a number of months. I was invited a couple of months ago to come here. Very happy to do so. And I think it's been a very good coming together, again, of different non-governmental organizations in the U.S., and also working with Russian government officials and NGOs. And what can we expect to happen at this event today? Well, there will be presentations by quite a few people. There's a number of speakers, probably 12 plus, and we've got different segments during the course of the day. So they'll make their presentations. We'll have Q&A and then some open discussions. So I think it will be a very good program. And I hope that a number of locals have registered that can listen in, as well as make comments to us. And who are some of the VIPs we can expect to be in attendance today? Well, I have the list right here. I haven't remembered it yet. But the mayor will be here, the mayor of Kauai, a very important person. So I look forward to meeting him. What about from the Russian side? Is the Russian ambassador going to be here? No, the Russian ambassador will not be here. But I know that his number two out of the embassy in Washington will be here. So that's significant. And then, as I said, also people from Moscow. Wonderful. Well, Bill, you're a chairman emeritus at Sister Cities International. Could you tell us more about the organizing? How did it come about? Well, it came about from a conference that President Eisenhower had in 1956, September 11th, no less. In any event, he said that people throughout the world are interested in peace. So he gave inspiration to the American people to form partnerships with other cities. And this is all through the city channel. So it started with Eisenhower, and we've been at it for now more than 60 years. And we've got over 2,000 affiliations of U.S. cities around the world. So how has Sister Cities International today continued to foster this vision of President Eisenhower? Well, we have one thing. We have annual conferences. So we have topics that are of current interest within our organization Washington. We have an online capability called city seeking cities. So anyone on either side, whether they're a foreign city or someone in the U.S. looking for a city in the other direction, can look and see who may be registered kind of like a bridal registry, if you will. So we are pairing people, pairing communities. And do you go beyond the initial link-up? We do. We provide a lot of information for the original link-up, standard kinds of agreements, et cetera. But the annual conference and other programs that we have sustain and support the activities of all these many partnerships around the world. So we're constantly at that. We have a board of directors of 25 people across the U.S. And so they give us a good channel of communication with the cities around the U.S. And then of course we also have the state representatives, a very important group. And they act between the office and the board to the cities within their states. And this time, for the first time right now, for the first time in many years, we have all 50 states covered, including Hawaii. So we're very proud of that. Wonderful. Now, are your services available to anybody that just go to your website and, you know, let's say A-Cities looking for B-Cities or do they have to become a member of your organization? They don't have to become a member initially. We encourage that. So the services are for free. That's a good question. Certainly people can call into the office or contact a state representative if they know who that is. So the initial can be for free. But of course, if they want to participate, well, they even don't have to be a member to be at the conference. So, but it's good if you are a member, then you have access to a wider scope of information. And what takes place during these annual conferences? Well, again, we have what we might call best practices sessions, as well as informational sessions and networking sessions as well. So there's a variety of types of sessions that are conducted. And then very importantly, we have the award ceremony. And this recognizes particular achievements of a city committee. And it's ranked by, you might say, size of city by the population. So this in humanitarian, youth and education, economic development, all of those cities are recognized within size categories. So they come up on the stage, receive the award and make some nice comments. And can any city apply to participate in this award? Or do you have to be a member? You have to be a member to be considered for an award because it is recognizing the achievements of our members. And how far in advance do they have to submit the application to be considered? Well, I think that could be probably three or four months in advance. I don't forget exactly what the deadline is. But it's so that their information can be submitted and can be considered by the vetting panel. And what is the percentage of foreign attendees in these annual conferences? Yes, well, it varies from year to year, frankly, depending on where it is. But it may be as many as 25%. We've always wanted to have more. Sometimes we have. But we get good participation. We always seem to have a good participation from African city committees. And what about the governmental representation? How how what's the percentage of attendees that come from government background? Well, it's we're basically talking mayors here because it's city to city. That's probably 10% or less. We've always wanted more mayors to come. But they're busy people to they've got a lot of meetings to go to both within their city and otherwise. And we're looking actually next year, and we've considered it in the past, to have meetings concurrent with the US League of Cities, so that it'll be convenient for the mayors to also come to our conference concurrently. So a little bit of logistical issues there because mayors are busy people. Could you tell us more about the US League of Cities? Well, that's an organization. There are two of them. That's one. And basically the city is a member and somewhat similar to what we do. They have this annual conference. They also have a staff, which provides information and it's about best practices in city government. So that's mainly what it is. So they'll have and it's all run by the mayors. You know, it's a whole elective process. So it's something which I think most cities in the US do belong to. It's very worthwhile organization. And we've attended their conferences in the past with representatives. Do we have any mayors that's serving on Sister Cities International Board or in the committee? We do. The one fellow that we're quite proud of is Ron Nirenberg, who was the city council member in San Antonio. And just a few months ago, he was elected the mayor of San Antonio, ninth largest city in the United States. So he was elected as mayor, but also he was elected as vice chair of Sister Cities International, which means that next July, he would become the chairman of the board of directors. We have a number of other people. For example, there's Magdalena Carrasco, who's the vice mayor of San Jose, California. So from time to time, we do have council members and mayors that serve on the board of directors or on our honorary board. In fact, another official that we have is not a mayor. He's kind of like a mayor is the president of the board of supervisors of Santa Clara County in California. That's a very high level positions. Wonderful. Do you work closely with the State Department? We do work very closely with the State Department. And I'm happy to say that in recent, during the last year or two, we work even more closely with the State Department. We have always received a relatively small amount of funding from the State Department. And therefore, you want to have good liaison with the State Department. I just go across town from Washington and meet with them periodically. We have to give them financial reports and activity reports. But also members of the State Department do come to our conferences and speak about matters of interest to our members. And what kind of support do they render other than coming to our conferences and providing a small amount of funding? Well, I think that's the most that they would want to do and the most that we would expect them to do to speak as authorities on certain topics. So we're very happy with that. We'd be even happier with more money. But Congress is a tough place to do business with. But I must say also that whenever our delegations go overseas, as and as I do as an individual, we visit at the local consulate, try to get appointments there, visit at the Embassy of the country to let them know that we're in country, what we're doing. I was at the US Embassy in Moscow, actually less than two weeks ago, meeting with a Colt with a public affairs officer. So it's important thing that we visit with these embassies and consulates of the United States overseas. And I would say that in almost all cases, these people know of sister cities and know about the work that we do. A greater challenge is to try to find their support in some way for our work so that they could support through funding and otherwise exhibitions of culture of US culture in the foreign country. So we're establishing deeper support with the State Department. And I know that they welcome it. Could you give us some more notable examples of achievements and activities between the different sister cities, say in educational, economic, municipal or cultural exchange? Right. Well, there's, you know, many different types of activities, as you say, ranging from the humanitarian where we might support a simple thing, such as making water more available, clean water, installing pumps, that type of thing. On the educational area, we facilitate the exchange of students. They're able to come over to the US, stay for two weeks with a family, and then the next year or a year after that US family and the US city committee will go over and stay with the people over there. Does SCI help with facilitating the process of the F1 visas as well? It does. We have a, actually we call it a J visa, as I remember. And we have set up a separate channel to do that. We used to outsource it. Now we're doing it ourselves in order to do it as a lower cost to our city members. So we do facilitate that. And we welcome more business. What about students who plan on coming here for school, not just for a month or two, but for long term, just SCI help with those kind of applications as well. Well, I think that's been more in the province of the local city committees that do that because if they've identified and working well with a local university, they will help facilitate those enrollment types of, you know, in programs for a year or something like that. So that also goes on. I'm starting to do some work in that area myself, trying to identify some cities in Russia and universities in Russia that we can have some longer term exchanges with. I'm a numbers person. Could you provide some economic numbers, you know, that have transpired, you know, that are the fruits of this kind of exchanges? Well, I can't think of, I'm glad you're a numbers person. Off the top of my head, it's still early in the morning. I need that first cup of coffee. And your gel act. That's right. So I can't remember the exact numbers. But that's something which we need to do more of, you know, compile the numbers. There's a lot going on that, you know, this is an organization of 600 city committees with over 2000 partnerships. Very difficult to keep track of all of those activities. We'd rather have them continue to be active and do things rather than to bother them with, you know, leaning on it for a lot of reporting. So it's spontaneous and local. Well, with modern technology and, you know, communications methods, if I want to contact somebody in country exotica, I could almost just reach over over the internet to, you know, to get to know them. So what kind of added advantage or unique tools and resources does SCI have to facilitate that kind of development? Right. Well, if one person tries to contact one person or a city overseas, I think it's difficult. I mean, you can identify, but to actually establish contact, they don't know who you are. They think maybe it's an internet scam sometime. We have the reputation around the world in 150 countries. So we have this reputation and the foreign ministries know of us. A lot of people in capital cities and other cities know of us. So we are an entree. We're like a passport to connections around the world so we can pave the way. And being a non-governmental organization, you're sort of doing track two diplomacy. What are some of the things that track two diplomacy can accomplish that track one cannot? Well, the human element is the real difference here. And again, that it's from the American people. It's not from the government, from the U.S. government or U.S. agencies. So I think the human element is the most important part. And ours is volunteer work. People who go on these missions, these exchanges, are doing it on their own time, on their own expense. And I think that kind of willingness to be of help or to be collaborative really is welcomed abroad. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Bowron. We're so glad to have you here with us in Hawaii today. And we hope you enjoy your stay. Thank you very much. And I hope they have another meeting here in Hawaii soon. Thank you. Well, good morning. Could you tell us your name, please? My name is Natalie Sibelnik. And who are you with today? Well, I'm the president of the Congress of Russian Americans, and we're one of the organizers of this event, the Fort Elizabeth 200th Commemoration. And who can we expect to be in attendance today? Well, we are now waiting for Mayor Cavallo. We actually have the head of the at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. We have the head of the Department of Work with compatriots abroad. We actually have the minister counselor from the embassy, and we will have the consul general of Russian Federation from Seattle, who covers the California and Hawaii territory. And of course, a lot of speakers, historians, academics, and so we're very excited. So is your organization the event planner? I'm sorry. Is your organization the one that planned this whole event? Well, I would say that we are one of the initial organizers, but we are doing this in collaboration with, we're in partnership with the Russian Center New York, so Elena Branson, the president of the Russian Center, and the Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design, and Arts, and Alexander Melodyn is the winner of the prestigious award from the Hawaiian Historic Foundation for his reconstruction efforts of the fort. And how long has you guys been planning this event? Well, I've been planning it since 1994, since the first time I've seen it. But Elena and I got together a couple of years ago and said we need to do this while it's 200 years. And then last year we had a conference and we invited some people in Washington DC and one of them was head of the department on work with conservation in North America of landmarks. And so we thought this, we don't do it this year, that's it. Well, 1994, that's a long time ago. What were some of the obstacles you faced in trying to bring about this event? In 1994 was my first visit to Kauai and my first visit to Fort Elizabeth, which I was not aware of being Russian. But I also found out that a lot of Hawaiians, even living here, are not aware of this. And so I kept thinking, how do we do this? How do we restore it, preserve it? And so everything just kept coming to, I guess it was like a crescendo and it just occurred. And so we're very fortunate that we were able to do that. What is the history behind our Fort Russian Elizabeth? Well, the history behind it, and I guess it starts with the Russian American Company. As you know, they were in Alaska and they moved down to California. Fort Ross, I would say, is the sister to Fort Elizabeth. And traveling further down, in 1806, the Russian American Company came to Honolulu. So we're very fortunate today, too, to have a speaker who was on the Commission investigation. They found the first ship that came in, the Niva. They found the wreckage of it. So that's something that's happening. So in, I think it was 1815, the Russian American Company came to Kauai. And so there was an alliance with King Kaumali. And so I think that's how it just all started. 1817 was when they left. And so this is the last year that we were able to use this as a commemoration. Well, what are some of the things you hoped to happen from this event? Well, I would say I hope to raise awareness of the Fort. I think it's very important that people do know of the shared history. After all, this is a shared history. I hope, well, shared history also is a shared responsibility. So we hope that somehow we can help in preserving maintenance and maybe do other things to have more people aware of this, not just here, but from all over the world. Because that's going to increase Kauai's tourism. So I just, I think that's it. And then, I think U.S.-Russia relations is a key thing here, too. Hawaiian-Russian relations, I think there's a win-win situation all around. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Miss Nathalie. And thank you for your efforts in bringing about this event. Thank you. And one more thing, it's a sister city. We're hoping that we will find some sister city opportunities. So I thank you for your help with this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, sir. Good morning. Could you let us know what your name is, please? My name is Malginov. I'm coming from Moscow. I'm working in the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation and I'm the head of the department, which is working for the ties with our Russians abroad. Did you just arrive here today? Well, not today. Yesterday, late evening. Is this your first time to Hawaii? Yes, that's right. But this is not time that I came here only for one day. I'm afraid I will not be in a position to see, however. So I will have to come another. Yes, of course. What do you hope to achieve from this trip? Well, for us, the event is rather important. Important because because of the initiatives of the Russians staying in the United States, especially the Congress of Russian Americans, they are trying to bring back and to show to the wider American public the long history of relations between our two countries. You can imagine that 200 years ago already in various parts of the present United States, there were Russian settlements. It was in Alaska. It was in Fort Dros in California and here in Hawaii. And this is very interesting that for 200 years, our countries, our countries and our people did learn each other. These pages of history, we must not forget because our memory has to be preserved because you cannot build a future without the deep knowledge of your past. And that's good that in the United States, American people, enthusiasts are trying to preserve the history as a whole. Yeah, because the history of the United States is the history of a very complex infiltration of cultures, languages, peoples and so on and so forth. So and Russians were one of them. You cannot imagine American culture, American history without influence of the people coming from the Russian Federation. As I said, 200 years ago and the 20th century, if you look about Trochanin, Afenstradvinsky, Sikorsky and some other names. So let's try to remember and let's try to preserve this rich history because this may be a foundation for future relations and understanding between the people. And more we remember about our relations of the past. It will be more difficult to destroy it. And you know that there are certain influences trying to destroy the relations. So it will be more easier to preserve it for the future, for future generations. Is this piece of history, this special piece of history known to Russians back in Russia? Well, you see, not very much, believe me, and about the history of Russian settlements in Hawaiian. I learned only just a couple of years ago. I knew, of course, about Alaska. I knew about California. We knew about the expedition of Rizana. But Hawaiian, no, it was, for me at least, it was very interesting and very innovative and I'm very grateful to enthusiasts here in the United States and as well as for enthusiasts in the Russian Federation. Historians, they're trying to bring it back. So had history taken a different turn, these could have been the Russia Republic of Hawaii? I don't. It's a little bit too far. A little bit too far. Had that happened, how do you think Hawaii would look like today? Sorry. Had that happened, had we become a Russia Republic of Hawaii, how do you think Hawaii would look like today in terms of? Working in the foreign ministry, I would say that the history doesn't have subjunctive mood. So it's not like this. It's very difficult to imagine. Let historians, experts and writers just try to create something fiction, some fiction about this. For me, it's rather difficult. Okay. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Majinov. Thank you so much. Yeah, welcome. Enjoy your stay here. But thank you. And I wish all the best to Hawaiian people to prosper, to expand the tourist inflow, and I hope that Russian history of Hawaiians will also will permit more tourists even from the Russian Federation to come here to learn and to see this. That sounds wonderful. I believe I'm hearing talks about setting up a sister city relationship with Russia already. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Good morning, sir. Could you tell us your name, please? My name is Dmitry Zhirnov. I'm a minister-counselor in the Embassy of the Russian Federation and I'm really happy to be here. I think that we're going to have a very important event which should be, not even could be, but should be and will be conducive to strengthening of our relations. Wonderful. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Morning. I'm with Team ThinkTec Hawaii and we're so happy to have you here today. Could you tell us what are some of the goals and aspirations you see from this event? Well, I'm hoping that we can develop a stronger bond. I know we try to do a sister city relationship kind of agreement because the connection here is the Russian Fort and this is a 200th anniversary so I'm hoping we can develop some solid relationships and really connect culturally and understand the presence of the Russian Fort here on Kaua'i and what it means and it's about relationships, right? Culture, exchanges, internships, I enjoy talking about that. And what are the steps to growing a sister city's relationship? What are the process to it? Right, so we've been trying and so we'll continue to try, go through the right process but I would like to connect back to whoever's the mayor there, I mean whatever the leadership there and begin the discussion from my office, working with a county council. There's a process and so I think maybe from today we can actually see each other. Sometimes it's not about just emailing and the tech part of it, which is great. The relationship, the eye-to-eye contact. So hopefully we can do that today and solidify some of the process that it can take for us to finally do a sister city with Russia.