Plantation tours, safaris, luxe stays and meals with ambassadors were all on the agenda for the eight days Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson spent in Tanzania last month. The trip culminated in signing a sister city agreement with Dar es Salaam, a city of 7.8 million people on a cove of the Indian Ocean.
Based on a statement sent to the Observer from Johnson’s office, sister city agreements seem to be the kind of thing politicians love to point out but which mean absolutely nothing for the normal person who doesn’t get giddy over economics. The agreement includes “provisions for small business exchange programs and investment opportunities,” and is the first time Dallas has entered such a full-fledged agreement since 2010.
City records obtained by the Observer show that the trip came in around $40,000, around $13,300 of which is expected to be reimbursed to the city by the Dallas International Fund because the costs exceeded what the city typically agrees to pay for travel. For instance, the city won’t pay for its employees to fly business class, but as city staffers noted in planning documents for the trip, traveling to Tanzania requires “a difficult flight of more than 24 hours.”…