By Diplomacy Journal Lee Kap-soo

A delegation from Icheon City, led by Mayor Kim Kyung-hee, paid an official visit to its sister city, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

Santa Fe established a sister city relationship with Icheon in 2013, and the city sent a delegation to the 38th Icheon Ceramics Festival in April and officially invited Icheon to participate.

The Icheon City delegation held a meeting with Santa Fe Mayor Alan Weber on the morning of July 11.

They discussed future-oriented exchanges between the two cities and attended the opening event of the International Folk Art Market (IFAM), a representative event of Santa Fe City.

"This is my first visit to Santa Fe, and I'm grateful for the warm welcome," said Mayor Kim Kyung-hee during the meeting with Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber. "Even though the pandemic interrupted our exchanges for a while, our hearts were still connected," she said.

"Now that we've reopened, we hope to continue to engage in real and lasting exchanges in many ways that capitalize on the strengths of both cities, including culture and the arts."

In response, Santa Fe Mayor Alan Weber said, "It is a great honor to have you visit Santa Fe," adding that Santa Fe is a UNESCO Creative City for crafts and folk arts, just like Icheon, which is specialized in tourism and is based on history and art, and he hopes that “we can continue to have active exchanges through youth exchange projects."