On December 10, 2004, the signing ceremony of the Dallas-Saratov Sister Cities Relationship Agreement took place at the Dallas City Hall. Laura Miller, the Mayor of Dallas, and Andrey Ezhov, the Vice Mayor of Saratov, placed their signatures on the document that reaffirmed the already-existent ties between the Russian and the American city.    

Years of civil diplomacy, friendship, and collaboration preceded the official signing of the Sister Cities protocol. The cooperation between Dallas and Saratov started in 1992 when a group from Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas went to Saratov on a mission to provide humanitarian assistance. Since then, various partnership agreements for mutual exchange of culture, education, commerce, and science tested the strength of the relationship and showed that Dallas and Saratov were prepared to make their bonds official.

Saratov, a city of approximately one million people, is located some 500 miles southeast of Moscow on the Volga River. Saratov is the capital of one of the most progressive Regions in Russia and a leader in the adoption of liberal and democratic reforms. The Region was the first to enact laws authorizing private ownership of the land by individuals and businesses. The area around Saratov is rich in natural resources. Agriculture is well developed. Like Dallas, the city of Saratov is developing high-tech industries.

“Our cities have a great deal in common. We look with optimism to the prospects of the Sister Cities relationship,”  said the Mayor of  Dallas, Laura Miller.

“A Sister Cities partnership carries with it considerable responsibility. We understand that well. We are ready to develop good relationships between our two cities,” Andrey Ezhov, Saratov’s Vice Mayor, remarked. He went on to say: “Today’s official signing of the Sister Cities agreement is a product of great efforts on the part of many people from Dallas and Saratov, a product of the warmth of their hearts and souls.”          

David Grigg, a Dallas attorney, from early on helped develop the Dallas-Saratov relationship. It is because of his decade-long work that the official signing was possible.         

The Mayor Pro Tem of Dallas, John Loza, actively backed the idea of the Sister Cities partnership in the City Council. Mr. Loza visited Saratov in the recent past.          

Jared Michael Jackson from Dallas also took the idea of a Dallas-Saratov relationship close to heart. “At first, we were helping Saratov with humanitarian gifts of food, clothing, money, and labor. That, of course was not sufficient. I realized that we need to help them to learn how to start and to grow small businesses, to expand existing ones, to build economic independence, and to give back to their communities,”  Mr. Jackson said. To implement his dream, Michael formed the Business & Engineering Global Outreach (BEGO) National Heritage Foundation in July 2002, a non-profit organization that would facilitate economic, educational and humanitarian cooperation and development by bringing together people of different nations and cultures. At present, BEGO is working on several projects in Saratov, the principal one being the creation of a Business and Office Incubation Center in Saratov.

The delegation from Saratov that attended the signing ceremony included members of government, officials of the Russian Peace Foundation, and businessmen from Saratov.

“I think that the relationship between Dallas and Saratov should be based on economic ties,”  said Sarkis Kazyan, a Saratov businessman, who is interested in buying farming equipment, real estate, and medical supplies. “This is my second trip to Dallas and I am now set to look for business contacts in the US.”

“We would be eager to work with American companies that have similar interests as we do,” stated Elena Telegina, the director of the Abbat shopping center in Saratov. “We would like to engage in a mutually-rewarding commercial cooperation with US businesses.”

In 2005, Laura Miller, the Mayor of Dallas, intends to visit Saratov herself. “I have heard many people tell of exciting experiences in Saratov. It is time that I visit Saratov myself.”