International trade, digital technology and quality of life are the elements in common between Vancouver and Odessa, two cities connecting Canada and Ukraine.

Vancouver is the main Canadian seaport on the Pacific Ocean located in Southwest Canada, on the border with the United States. It is the third most populous city in Canada (after Montreal and Toronto). Its inhabitants (Vancouverites) are 2,581,000, with approximately 83,000 Ukrainians.

Vancouver is the North American gateway for trade with the Asia-Pacific area. Its Port is the Canada’s largest one and trades approximately $ 200 billion in goods with more than 170 trading economies. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, like all Canada Port authorities, is financially independent. All its profits are reinvested into port infrastructure's improvements.

Vancouver was consistently rated one of the world's most liveable cities and it is also an unparalleled place to work and invest. As a global gateway, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has been named the best in North America for 10 consecutive years.

A world capital of green economy.

The City is the birthplace of Greenpeace, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Occupy movement, Vancouver’s environmental ethos is present in its city planning, impact-driven companies and sustainable business leadership. This positions Vancouver to push forward on a clean, green restart in a post-COVID-19 economy.

Some facts and figures on the Vancouver’s green achievements:

• Vancouver has been named the 3^rd greenest city in the world (Siemens/Economist Intelligence unit).
• One in 15 Vancouverites currently works in the green economy, while 30% of local businesses deliver products or services that help to restore or preserve the environment.
• The City of Vancouver found that its citizens save an average of $ 12 million a year due to reductions in carbon emissions from stronger building codes.
• Metro Vancouver has 7% of the country’s population but approximately 27% of Canadian cleantech companies, including the highest concentration of Global Cleantech 100 companies in Canada.

A world capital of animation and film production.

The City is home to a complex and diverse creative industries ecosystem. Vancouver is the 3^rd largest film & tv production centre in North America, behind only Los Angeles and New York. As a home to a global film and TV production base the City is rich of experienced crews and specialised schools.

Facts and figures of Vancouver’s role in film and animation industry:

• Variety magazine recognised Vancouver as the world “capital city” of visual effects and animation. The City’s cluster of visual effects and animation studios, schools and programs turn out world-class talent and art.
• Animation Career Review named four Vancouver schools to its "2018 Top Ten International Animation School Rankings", while the Hollywood Reporter named three on that list to its "Top 10 Visual Effects Schools Revealed". As such, it’s safe to say that Vancouver (and Canada) has the highest concentration of top-ranked VFX & Animation schools in the world.
• Vancouver is home to one of the world’s top three largest and fastest-growing virtual and augmented reality clusters (VR/AR) in the world, with more than 200 industry players (report of VRARA, 2018)
• Finally, Vancouver is also renowned for the digital games development industry.

For more information visit the Economic snapshot dashboard of the Vancouver Economic Commission.

As far the City’s style is concerned, Vancouver absorbed the cultural traditions of North America and India, Asia and Europe. Architectural elements of all those geographical areas are present in ensembles of Vancouver. Moreover, the City’s position is in one of the most beautiful harbours of the world.

With regards to tourist attractiveness, in 1971, the city opened the Museum of the Century, which included the Planetarium and Maritime Museum. The planetarium building is decorated with a huge crab sculpture, which, according to indigenous legends, has long guarded the bay. In the Maritime Museum is exhibited a watch ship "St. Rock", a small sailing and steaming ship with a wooden hull, which twice, in 1940 and 1944, crossed the Northwest passage through the waters of the Canadian Arctic.

The Sister Cities Agreement between Vancouver and Odessa.

The Agreement on friendly relations between the sister cities of Odessa and Vancouver was signed on August 6, 1979 by the Chairman of the Executive Committee of Odessa City Council A.N. Malykhin and the Mayor of Vancouver Jack Volrich.

Main happenings occurred between Odessa and Vancouver since 1971:

• 1988 - Visit of the Vancouver City's delegation to Odessa, headed by the acting Mayor George Puell.
• 1991 - Group of school children from Vancouver visited Odessa for educational and cultural exchange. In the same year, a return visit of Odessa school children to Vancouver took place.
• 1994 - Mission to Odessa of Mr M. Geller, architect and member of the Vancouver business community, to meet the staff of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the Odessa City Council.
• 1995 - Official delegation of Odessa to Vancouver, headed by the mayor Eduard Gurwitz, meeting with the mayor and leading businessmen of Vancouver.
• 2006 - Vancouver City Hall supported Odessa's candidacy to host matches of the 2012 European Football Championship.
• 2007 - Dossier on investment projects in the city of Odessa handed over to the Vancouver City Hall for further consideration by the Canadian side.
• 2009 - The magazines "Passage" and "Travel" published articles and pictures with detailed information about Vancouver and its ties with Odessa.
• 2009 - Foundation of the Vancouver's branch of the "Club of Odessites in the world".

We thank the City of Vancouver, External Relations and Protocol Office, for the contents and pictures of this article.