- Commerce now Operates International Protocol Office
Meet our international protocol expert.
The International Protocol Office arranges and facilitates meetings between the Governor and international leaders.
If you are coordinating the visit of an official governmental delegation that will be traveling to Oklahoma and would like to arrange a meeting with state officials, please submit a written request to the Office of Protocol:
Please include information about your group, dates and/or times of the visit, and contact information in your letter.
Protocol or international inquiries may be directed to Christy Busch at (405) 815-5111.
Scheduling requests should be submitted in writing and sent via email to Christy Busch.
The International Protocol Office can provide state agencies with international flag(s) for display. Requests for international flags may be directed to Christy Busch at christy.busch@okcommerce.gov. Please include information regarding the state agency you represent, flags requested, dates needed, and contact information.
Oklahoma’s Consular Corps is comprised of current and past honorary consular officers, two retired ambassadors, and a diplomat in residence posted at the University of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is home to 11 Honorary Consulates representing countries from East Asia, Europe, and Latin America. A consul is an official appointed by a government to live in a foreign city and protect and promote his or her government’s citizens and interests there. An honorary consul is a person who performs limited consular functions such as fostering business relationships and hosting cultural education programs in a foreign city where there is no diplomatic mission. Many larger nations with vast business/cultural interests abroad have more than one post.
Unlike career consular officers or ambassadors, honorary consuls are American citizens or permanent resident aliens who have been officially accredited by the U.S. Department of State to perform consular services on a part-time basis. After being nominated by a foreign minister (the equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of State), they are carefully vetted in a process which typically takes more than a year. They are permitted to carry on another business. These honorary consuls have dedicated their lives to foreign relations, have close ties to international business, or have distinguished themselves in other ways.
Sister States
Oklahoma enjoys sister state relationships with China’s Gansu Province, Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture, and Taiwan. Oklahoma Sister States involve community, schools, government, and organizational support to conduct cultural, educational, business, agricultural, medical, and other types of programs and exchanges to further these relationships.
Sister states are relationships created by official agreements between the State of Oklahoma and the government of the foreign state.
Oklahoma’s first sister state was Taiwan. In 1980, Oklahoma Governor George Nigh signed an agreement establishing sister state relations. The document states that “the two sister entities will promote interchanges in various areas with the object of deepening mutual understanding and goodwill.”
Governor Nigh also signed Oklahoma’s sister state agreement with China’s Gansu province in 1985. Since then, 20 delegations of Oklahomans going to China or vice versa have strengthened the relationship by building business and cultural ties. The same year, Oklahoma also established a sister state with the Prefecture of Kyoto in Japan.
Sister Cities
Mayors of pairing cities may also sign official documents inaugurating a sister cities partnership. Sister relationships are the only international partnerships agreements that link local governments. The agreements establish an active relationship, which strives to improve the mutual understanding of diverse cultures. These sister programs have proven to be an invaluable tool for a multitude of reasons:
- Sister programs develop municipal partnerships between U.S. cities, counties, and states and similar jurisdictions in other nations.
- They provide opportunities for city officials and citizens to experience and explore other cultures through long-term community partnerships.
- The sister programs create an atmosphere in which economic and community development can be implemented and strengthened.
- Sister programs stimulate environments through which communities will creatively learn, work, and solve problems together through reciprocal cultural, educational, municipal, business, professional, and technical exchanges and projects.
- They collaborate with organizations in the United States and other countries which share similar goals.
Oklahoma’s Sister Cities include:
| Oklahoma City | Sister City |
|---|---|
|
Muravlenko, Russia |
|
|
Clermont-Ferrand, France Colima, Mexico Seika, Japan Arezzo, Italy |
|
|
Haikou City, China Kigali City, Rwanda Puebla, Mexico Ulyanovsk, Russia Taipei, Taiwan Tainan City, Taiwan Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
|
|
Baiyin, China |
|
|
Nikaho, Japan Jinchang, China |
|
|
Kameoka, Japan |
|
|
Beihai, China Celle, Germany Kaohsiung Municipality, Taiwan San Luis Potosi, Mexico Tiberias, Israel Utsunomiya, Japan Zelenograd, Russia Amiens, France |
|
|
Krnov, Czech Republic |