The St. Louis – San Luis Potosí Friendship Committee, Inc. is a nonprofit Missouri corporation whose main purpose is to foster exchanges in the areas of economics, commerce, education, technology, culture, and the arts between St. Louis and San Luis Potosí, Mexico while showcasing St. Louis as an international city. The Committee is affiliated with the St. Louis Center for International Relations and Sister Cities International.

The Sister City program was established in 1956 at the suggestion of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Underlying this was the conviction that contacts among individuals serve to promote peace and world understanding. Today, more than 1,200 U.S. cities are paired with 1,900 cities in 120 different countries worldwide. The Sister City Program provides an opportunity for local citizens to expand their cultural, educational, civic and economic horizons, while showcasing St. Louis as an international city.

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE STL-SLP COMMITTEE

In the early part of 1998, the mayor of San Luis Potosí, who had a daughter studying at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, was conceiving a sister city relationship with St. Louis. During the summer months of 1998 a new impetus was gaining strength. The intent was to establish formal ties between St. Louis and a city in Mexico. San Luis Potosí would become the first ever “sister” city relationship with a Spanish-speaking city as well as the first with another North American country.

A St. Louis delegation traveled to Mexico in the fall of 1998. In the city of San Luis Potosí, on November 10, 1998, Clarence Harmon, Mayor of the City of St. Louis, and Licenciado Alejandro Zapata Perogordo, Mayor of San Luis Potosí signed a Letter of Intent expressing their will to pursue a formal friendship between the cities they represent. In the ensuing years an ad hoc committee was formed and developed the relationship and cooperation between St. Louis and San Luis Potosí. On December 10, 2001, the Saint Louis – San Luis Potosí Friendship Committee, Inc. was incorporated as a Missouri not-for-profit corporation.

PURPOSE

The committee enhances world peace by maintaining strong relationships with similar units and governments in San Luis Potosí by developing closer understanding and cooperation between the people of Mexico and those of the USA. The committee promotes international understanding and creates opportunities for the citizens of the St. Louis region to experience and explore the diverse Mexican cultures through long-term affiliations and stimulates environments through which St. Louis and San Luis Potosí can creatively learn to work and solve problems together.

SAN LUIS POTOSÍ

San Luis Potosí is in the center of Mexico much like St. Louis is at the crossroad of the country. It located in the north with fertile soil and is an industrial center, owing its existence and architectural splendor to rich mining deposits. The city is considered one of the colonial treasures of northern Mexico and has a most important historical center.

San Luis Potosí was founded as a Franciscan mission in 1592, but it wasn’t until its gold and silver deposits were discovered that the development of the urban zones started. The name San Luis was given in honor of Louis IX of France and Potosí because it was compared with the rich gold mines in Bolivia. Much of the gold and silver has gone, but zinc and lead mines commingle with a modern industrial base situated in the road corridor of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The city preserves its colonial enchantment and also enjoys many attributes of a modern city, such as hotel infrastructure, highways, airport, tourist and cultural attractions. The railroad and highway system makes San Luis Potosí the neuralgic communications center of the country. Its geographic location puts it equidistant from the three main cities of the country, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.