International Relations Committee – 2019 Annual Report

Membership

• Councillor Fred Francis, Chairperson
• Councillor Fabio Costante
• Councillor Gary Kaschak
• Councillor Ed Sleiman
• Mr. Daniel Ableser
• Ms. Maria Belenkova
• Mr. Jerry Barycki
• Mr. Scott Despins
• Mr. Ronnie Haidar
• Mr. William Ma
• Mr. Steven Spagnuolo
• Mr. L.T. Zhao

Mandate

•  Support the efforts of the Mayor and Council in the enhancement of Windsor's international image
•  Promote and enhance our relationship with current twin cities
•  Support international education, cultural, sport and economic initiatives

The International Relations Committee continues to promote Windsor's international interests and image through its focus on strengthening the current community based twin city relationships both abroad and in the local community. This is achieved through the committee's continued support towards educational, cultural, social and economic based exchanges. The committee also devotes its energies towards the exploration of potential new or emerging twin city relationships where there is a desire to twin based on a strong local community commitment, and where long term, valuable exchanges are realized.

This new members of the Committee, for the 2018-2022 term, met three times in 2019, giving them the opportunity to get to know each other and become familiar with their experience and expertise through introductions and sharing of information. The members had numerous opportunities to take part in events throughout the year, as evidenced in the following report.