THUNDER BAY - Thunder Bay city leaders have officially signed a friendship agreement with a municipality in the United Kingdom.
A city delegation, which included Coun. Kristen Oliver, city clerk John Hannam and city police chief Sylvie Hauth, travelled across the pond earlier this week to ink the pact with Bromley, a borough of London.
A friendship agreement is considered the first stage of a partnership between two municipalities, which could later be further strengthened into a sister cities agreement.
Thunder Bay has five sister cities, the maximum that bylaws currently allow. The pact with Bromley, which has a population of about 330,000 is the city's third friendship agreement.
The previous term of Thunder Bay city council had authorized the exploration of an agreement with Bromley in 2017. Officials from the British municipality have already visited Thunder Bay.
Hannam had previously said the process to develop the agreement with Bromley emerged from Thunder Bay's First World War commemoration projects.
