CZECH SISTER CITY -For the past several years, members of Barksdale’s 2nd and 307th Bombwings have attended a NATO Air Show in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, and through that, a "Sister City" relationship has been formed. Yesterday, Shreveport’s Chamber of Commerce held a breakfast welcoming visitors from the Czech Republic; the Deputy Mayor from Ostravow, Ms. Andrea Hoffmannova shared some of her first impressions.
"I can see we have very many things similar," Hoffmannova said. "For us it's very important to have a sister city like this because we share many things and I hope we can cooperate further in many potential fields like business but also education, culture, sports. I could see many, many similar things."
Last year Tim Magner, president of the Shreveport Chamber was the first civic visitor at the NATO DAYS Air Show in the Eastern Czech Republic, as he accompanied visiting members of the 307th Bombwing stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base. Magner feels the relationship between the two cities offers many possibilities.
"We live in a global economy, our ability to build upon that connection through pen-pals, through connecting our schools, maybe connecting our business, maybe connection our chambers."Magner explained. "I did have a chance to meet with several businesses while I was over there, they are interested in technology, they are interested in advanced manufacturing. So I think there's some commonalities, and some ideas that we could build on."
The Czech delegation also visited Barksdale Air Force Base, they toured the flightline to see B-52’s up close and the base museum.
