Consul (a.h.) Thelmo Cunanan Jr (center) with Rustavi City officials during the signing of the Sister-City agreement last June 2014
Consul (a.h.) Thelmo Cunanan Jr. is scheduled to call on Rustavi City Mayor David Jikia, to present the latter with a symbolic friendship gift and letter of friendship from Mayor Bernard Faustino Dy of Cauayan City, Isabela, Philippines. Rustavi is the official Sister-City of Cauayan.
Consul Cunanan will call on Mayor Jikia during his coming trip to Georgia in the fourth week of May. The gift, a beautiful artefact, was handcrafted by artisans of Cauayan and is a symbol of the city’s friendship with Rustavi, while the invitation is to grace a special event in Cauayan later this year. The letter also contains a message of congratulations to the people of Rustavi on the occasion of their country’s independence day.
Rustavi and Cauayan Cities signed a friendship accord last June 2014, formally establishing a “Sister-City” relationship, which entails cooperation in the fields of, among others, public policy and urban planning, eco-tourism, health and education, and business. This friendship agreement is the first of Georgia with the Philippines and with Asia and was a project of Consul Cunanan and Mayors Jikia and Dy.
Recently, Consul Cunanan was a special invited guest of Rustavi’s anniversary. Representing him at the celebration was Mr. Levan Akhvlediani, Co-Chairman of the Philippines – Georgia Business and Friendship Association.
Cauayan, with a population of 122,335 people, is a component city of Isabela province, the Agro-Industrial Capital of Cagayan Valley, and the Central Business District of Region 2. Cauayan and its elected officials have been the recipient of many awards for excellence. Just last April, Mayor Dy was recognized as the Most Outstanding Public Servant by the Golden Globe Annual Awards.
Rustavi, on the other hand, is the third largest city in Georgia, with 120,800 residents. It is located in southeast part of the country, in the province of Kvemo Kartli, situated 25 kilometers southeast of the capital Tbilisi. A booming agroindustrial center, Rustavi is strategically-located between Tbilisi and the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The city has a multi-ethnic population and places great emphasis on religious and racial tolerance.
