Hyderabad’s three municipal corporations have renewed a 20-year sister-city partnership with Miyoshi in Japan, creating a new cooperation framework focused on skill mobility, tourism, culture and sports across the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area.
Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary for Metropolitan Area and Urban Development and Special Officer for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC), signed the declaration with Miyoshi Mayor Satoshi Fukuoka at the GHMC head office on Tank Bund on Tuesday.
The partnership was first established on July 27, 2006, and has now completed two decades. The renewed declaration brings GHMC, CMC and MMC together as representatives of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area for cooperation with Miyoshi City in Hiroshima Prefecture.
Under the new framework, the two sides will identify and develop projects through consultations and implement them through mutual agreement. The declaration prioritises skill mobility as well as tourism, culture and sports. The press statement did not specify individual projects, funding commitments, implementation agencies or delivery deadlines for these areas.
The participating civic bodies said the partnership would support industrial, economic, educational and cultural growth. The arrangement is also intended to deepen understanding between residents of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area and Miyoshi, and between India and Japan.
The institutional structure places three separate municipal corporations within a common metropolitan partnership. GHMC Commissioner RV Karnan, CMC Commissioner Srijana, Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation Commissioner Vinay Krishna Reddy and GHMC Additional Commissioner for Finance Radhika Gupta attended the signing. Representatives of the Hiroshima Prefectural Government, including Vice-Governor Toru Youhimatsu, Kazuo Ichikawa, Hiroyoshi Funaishi and Yoshihiro Harazono, were also present.
The renewed declaration requires the participating authorities to review the priority areas and activities every five years. Any changes must be agreed upon in writing through an addendum. The original 2006 declaration will remain in force, but the new declaration will take precedence wherever the two documents differ.
For Hyderabad’s civic institutions, the agreement establishes a formal route for future exchanges and jointly developed initiatives. Its practical effect will depend on the projects subsequently agreed by the municipal corporations and Miyoshi, including how they are financed, assigned and monitored. The next formal milestone under the declaration will be the implementation and five-year review of the agreed priority activities.
