Sister Ports Program: Bolstering Economic and Security Resilience in Foreign Ports

Background
The Sister Ports Program aims to facilitate the sharing of best practices in port security and sustainable development by providing international and domestic ports with an opportunity to visit with each other and build relationships between commercial and government actors. The program will pair a foreign port with a U.S. port of a similar size, function, or strategic interest.

Grant Details
The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Office of Transportation Policy (EB/TRA/OTP), is seeking applications to implement the Sister Ports Program. The program aims to establish 'Sister Port' relationships between foreign and U.S. ports to encourage equitable growth, development of business ties, and information sharing on best practices in sustainable port development. The program will involve reciprocal port visits between foreign and U.S. port stakeholders, policy changes in participating foreign ports towards U.S. strategic priorities, formation of new business partnerships, and strengthening economic bonds between countries through 'Sister Port' agreements.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include U.S.-based non-profit/non-governmental organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status of the U.S. tax code; foreign-based non-profit organizations/nongovernment organizations (NGO); Public International Organizations; Foreign Public Organizations; and U.S. for-profit organizations. Each applicant organization is allowed to submit only one application.

Period of Performance
The period of performance for the grant is 12 months.

Grant Value
$789,200 is the funding ceiling for this grant opportunity, with 1 award expected to be made.

Place of Performance
The first foreign port participating in the Sister Ports Program is Oman’s deep-water port of Duqm.
The second sister port is yet to be determined, but EB/TRA/OTP is interested in ports in the Western Hemisphere.