DUSHANBE, February 8, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- On Monday February 7, Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev signed a decree on holding of a forum of young leaders from Dushanbe’s sister cities and CIS nations’ capital cities in Dushanbe on May 23 this year.

Shavkat Saidov, a spokesman for the Dushanbe mayor’s office, says the forum is organized in the framework of celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence and the main them of the forum will be “Sustainable Cooperation for Creation of Common Ideology and Friendship between Generations.”

Taking into account holding of scientific and cultural events, the organizing committee is to develop the forum concept by March 1, the spokesman said.  

In all, 14 cities around the world are the Dushanbe’s sister cities: Lusaka, Zambia (1966);  Sana''a, Yemen (June 25, 1967); Monastir, Tunisia (November 24, 1967); Klagenfurt,  Austria (1972); Lahore, Pakistan (September 15, 1976);  Boulder, USA (May 8, 1987); Mazar-i Sahrif, Afghanistan (July 13, 1991); Reutlingen, Germany (October 5, 1991); St. Petersburg, Russia (October 6, 1991); Shiraz, Iran (February 16, 1992); Minsk, Belarus (July 21, 1998); Urumqi, China (September 10, 1999); Tehran, Iran (March 12, 2001); and Ankara, Turkey (December 11, 2003).