Abstract:
The government of the Republic of Indonesia has given the portion of authority to the local government to conduct foreign relations in order to develop their region. Decentralization opens up opportunities for a region to build cooperation with other country in the context of urban development. Sister city program is purposed as a means for cultural exchange between the partnering cities. This concept has been rapidly spread globally and many cities adopt this concept to develop their cities. One of those Sister Cities are Surabaya and Busan. Together Surabaya and Busan make an agreement in assisting one another addressing mutual development and based on the local interest of each city. Surabaya and Busan has been annually exchanging educational delegations since 2007. During the schools and universities visit, both Surabaya and Busan introduce their culture to its partner city. In 2010 Surabaya and Busan also established sister universities and sister schools, which is basically partnerships between universities and schools in these two cities. Using the theory of soft power and paradiplomacy, this thesis will further explain the implementation of sister city program between Surabaya and Busan in education field.
