By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – St. Louis-area officials Thursday welcomed delegates from more than 130 countries to the Sister Cities International conference.
Sister Cities is a nonprofit organization that develops partnerships between American municipalities and their counterparts around the world.
Executive Director Tim Honey says this year's conference will deal with community building in the age of globalization.
"One of the very exciting goals we have is to have our partnerships work on the issue of sustainable development," Honey said. "How can we work on issues together that affect us globally such as the environment, such as HIV/AIDS"?
Former Maine Senator George Mitchell, who drafted an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement two years ago, will address the conference Saturday.
The Sister Cities conference was last held in St. Louis in 1978.