THE planned sisterhood between Davao City and Darwin City in Australia will not only focus on the economic aspects but will also explore the possibility of promoting culture between the two cities.

"The Northern Territory government is planning to explore the possibility of teaching the Filipino language as the fourth language for their students," City Council international relations committee chair councilor Rachel Zozobrado said.

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Zozobrado headed the sister-city delegation that visited Darwin last month in time for the Arafura Games, alongside Councilor Peter Laviña who headed Team Davao City to the Games.

Darwin, Northern Territory’s capital city, has grown tremendously tourism and economic wise. It boasts of a new $1 billion waterfront area that houses hotels and apartment blocks, a wade pool plus a new convention center.

Zozobrado said tourism development is one area that can be jointly developed as part of the planned sisterhood agreement between Davao and Darwin Cities.

She, however, said Darwin's economy is no longer just tourism-based but the city also has a new oil processing facility which is expected to further attract fresh investments.

"Northern Territory (NT) is a place where you can find lots of Filipinos; in fact, the Filipinos are now the second largest migrant community in the Northern Territory next only to the Greeks," she said.

She said they are supporting the Northern Territory's plan to teach the Filipino language to their students considering that the Filipinos make up a large community in the area. This, she said, could be part of the sisterhood agreement between the two cities.

Zozobrado said Northern Territory educational institutions are already teaching foreign languages to their students, including Mandarin, Japanese and Bahasa Indonesia. If this plan pushes through, she added, the Filipino language will be the fourth foreign language that will be taught to NT students.

"The sisterhood agreement will not only develop economic ties between the two cities but will also push for cultural ties between the two cities, especially with the proposal to teach Filipino in their schools," she said. If the NT government is considering this possibility, then this may be a sign of more economic and cultural exchanges not only between Davao and Darwin but other NT areas as well, she added. (PR)